Thantos's Cheater
by SilverWing321
Summary: When Harry, Ron and Hermione accidentally apperate into camp half-blood, the wizards and demigods are in a total uproar, until they realize they have a common enemy that could kill them all. An enemy only together they can defeat. Percy, Annabeth, and Nico join the Golden Trio's quest, but will their 'help' actually lead them all to failure?
1. The Trio in the woods

**_DISCLAIMER: I do not own Harry Potter or Percy Jackson_**

"_I knew we would lose_." Thought Percy, Camp Half-Blood had never won against the Hunters in their traditional Capture the Flag game, _"but I never thought that Annabeth and I would get lost in the woods looking for the flag". _We had been wandering around for hours and narrowly escaped three monsters already. After another half an hour of walking in circles and trying to find out way back to camp, we began to play the blame-game

"This is all your fault Seaweed Brain, you may have perfect bearings at sea but here, you're just leading us in circles!"

"You're the one who suggested we look in the Forest!" I retorted.

"Fine! So it's my fault," she said irritably, "my fault for not knowing that when you said you saw the red flag, it was a fox!"

Bickering as we continued to search for the camp, the trees began to thicken. I glanced upwards to see that the sky was growing dark. The game was definitely over by now. I wondered if any other campers had begun to look for us. After another hour of trying to navigate our way through the woods, we stopped at a clearing. Visibly exhausted from trekking through the woods, Annabeth slumped down onto a log to catch her breath.

"We should stay in one place." she said "They'll have a better chance of finding us that way. We don't want to be here after dark." This was true; the forest was filled with all kinds of monsters, most of which were always hungry for half-bloods. Wanting to rest my own aching legs, I sat down beside Annabeth and took her hand in mine. "We'll find a way out of this" I said, half reassuring myself. I kissed her softly on the cheek and she smiled and returned the favor. But naturally, warm fuzzy moments like these can never last long in you're a half blood.

Behind us, a loud crack emanated through the woods. We both jumped up and looked around for some kind of monster. There was nothing there, but I could feel a new presence in the woods. I uncapped Riptide and slowly began to walk towards the place the sound originated. Holding her dagger aloft, Annabeth followed. Before long, we could hear voices speaking in British accents. Peeking out from the rock me and Annabeth were hiding behind, I saw a trio of teenagers, about two years older than me and Annabeth, maybe seventeen?

"Where are we, Hermione?" asked the red-haired one. He was tall and gangly with lots of freckles.

"I-I don't know, I just thought of a random forest and apperated here" said the girl with bushy brown hair, the red-head had called her Hermione.

"But we have to get back to the wedding!" said the third boy. He looked a bit like me, with green eyes and untidy black hair. "The death-eaters are probably slaughtering people back there!"

I turned to Annabeth. She looked just as confused as I was. What was a death eater? And how had these people gotten past the protective border? They weren't half-bloods; I _knew _all the half-bloods at the camp. So who were they?

"We're not going back, Harry" the brown haired girl, Hermione, was saying. "It's you the death eaters are after, when they realize you're not there, they'll just leave!"

"Or start torturing the guests for information! We have to get back!" said the black haired kid, Harry. Suddenly, a bright silver light materialized above the treetops, Hermione yelped in surprise as it landed between the three of them and took the form of a weasel. Opening its mouth, it spoke in a man's voice,

"_Family safe, do not reply, we are being watched"_

Then, as quickly as it came, it disappeared into thin air. Ron let out a cry of relief and Hermione whispered "A patronus, oh, thank goodness". Even the last boy, Harry looked a bit comforted.

I looked at Annabeth in shock, amazement; her face was white as chalk. "W-what _was_ that?" I whispered. Or, I _thought _I whispered. The three teenagers suddenly froze and looked around nervously. "There's someone here." whispered Harry, taking a thin, long stick of wood out of his pocket. The other two followed the suit. The sticks didn't look like much of a weapon, but from what I had just witnessed, I doubted they were what they seemed.

_"Percy!" _whispered Annabeth, giving me her _I'll-kill-you-later _look.

I held my fingers to my lips in response, maybe they would think they imagined the sound, or pass it off for a wild animal. No such luck.

They stealthily crept up to the boulder, so quietly I didn't realize they were there until they had looked around the boulder and found themselves two inches from our faces.


	2. Who and What

For a second, we just stared at each other in shock, taking each other in. The girl, Hermione, seemed to analyze me in an almost Annabeth –like way, and noted riptide and Annabeth's dagger. Then, the small moment of peace was over.

Annabeth and I stumbled back as the teenagers waved their sticks, shouting strange gibberish. Balls of light shot out from their sticks and landed all around us leaving dark, sizzling burn marks on the trees and ground. I didn't know what those balls of light were, but I didn't want any touching me.

As we ran back, Annabeth stumbled on a tree root,

"_Petrificus Totalus!" _shouted Hermione, pointing her stick at Annabeth, and the ball of light caught her square in the back. I watched in shock as Annabeth's arms shot to her sides and her legs sprang together. She swayed on the spot for a moment then began to fall to the ground. I rushed over to catch her; she was stiff as a board. She wasn't dead, but she looked as if she had been bound by some invisible rope. Only her wide, terrifies, eyes could move back and forth.

I looked up in horror at the three strangers, in horror. They had cornered us, and all had their sticks pointed at me.

"W-who are you?!" I stuttered, "What did you do to Annabeth!? How did you get into this camp!?"

"Camp?' Hermione exclaimed, she lowered her stick and motioned for her friends to do the same. A tiny bubble of hope formed in my mind. What if these were half-bloods living in the rough in search for the camp…

"I think I know what happened" said Hermione, "I must have accidently apperated us into some muggle camp site."

The bubble of hope burst, they weren't half-bloods, and they didn't even know where they were! If mortals could get in, where the protective borders weakening? Could monsters get into the camp as well?

"How does that explain the fellow with the effing sword!?" cried Ron, talking to Hermione as if Percy and Annabeth weren't there.

"You'd be surprised what muggles bring to camping trips." said Hermione. Taking advantage of their distracting conversation, I began to sneak away, carrying Annabeth in my arms.

""Don't move!"Shouted the black haired boy, harry, pointing his stick at me. I froze where I was. I know, I know, that sounds cowardly, but these guys were all at least two years older than me, and could do serious damage with those magic sticks of theirs.

"We can't let these two leave, they've seen too much." Said Harry.

"I'll modify their memories and then we can go" said Hermione. _Modify our memories!?_ Thought Percy, he _couldn't_ let that happen, he just couldn't. Hermione began to advance upon them. Off in the distance, I could hear the voices of their fellow campers searching for us; so I did the manliest and mature thing to do,

"We're over here! Help!" I cried in the direction of their voices. Ron ran over to me and clamped a firm hand over my mouth.

"Hermione do it quickly! There might be others coming!" he said. Hermione took out her stick and pointed it straight at my head, just as Connor and Travis Stoll appeared behind the strange trio. And with three quiet blows to the head, they knocked the unexpected visitors unconscious.


	3. The big House meeting

As soon as Hermione was knocked out, the force binding Annabeth broke. She took a deep, calming breath as she flexed her stiff limbs. She seemed scared, but unhurt. Relied, I pulled her into a tight embrace. 'P-Percy… "She whispered into my ear, her voice trembling. 'I-I don't know w-what happened. T-there was nothing holding me, but I-I couldn't m-move." I could feel her shaking on my shoulder. "It's okay, your fine now" I reassured her, planting a soft kiss on her cheek.

"Uh, guys," said Connor, "I hate to interrupt but I think we have a few pressing matters to deal with before we go on to the warm fuzzy stuff" he said gesturing to the limp figures of Harry, Ron, and Hermione.

"We have to see Chiron" said Annabeth, collecting herself and pulling away.

When we staggered out of the forest, we first saw Chiron in his full horse form, pacing back and forth nervously. When he saw us, his worried face broke out with relief. He trotted over to us and began asking the questions I expected,

"Percy, Annabeth, where were you!? Its hours past the curfew, what were you-"

He stopped short as he noticed Connor and Travis coming out of the forest, supporting the three unconscious bodies.

"We can explain, Chiron!" said Annabeth,

"They appeared in the woods!" I said,

'We were listening to what they were saying"

"Then they attacked and-"

Chiron held up a hand to silence our rambling, and after a moment of studying the teenagers, he turned to us.

"Percy, Annabeth, Travis, take these three to the Big House and locks them on the third floor, be sure to take all of their weapons from them. Connor, call off the search and tell all the cabin councilors to gather in the big house for a meeting. I will meet you there shortly." He trotted off towards the forest, no doubt to see if there were any searchers still in there.

'See you in a bit." Said Connor, dumping the bodies of Ron and Hermione on Annabeth and me. We set off towards the big house.

Fifteen minutes later, when the intruders were safely disarmed and locked away, Travis, Annabeth and I headed down one flight of stairs to the ping pong table where all the councilors had already assembled for a meeting.

As soon as we sat down, all eyes were on Annabeth and me. "Percy, Annabeth," said Chiron, "I think you owe us all an explanation" I took a deep breath in, and began to explain everything.

One detailed story later, everyone was completely quiet around the ping-pong table, processing what they had just been told and staring at the three sticks we had taken from Harry, Ron, and Hermione. Clarisse was the first to speak up,

'Well what are we waiting for, kill those three. They're dangerous and they know about the camp!" she said.

"But from what Percy and Annabeth said, I don't think they meant any harm." Diana Jones, daughter of Demeter piped up. "They just came by accident by the looks of it."

"What I'm interested in is how mortals got past the borders, which should be impossible!" said Connor.

"They aren't mortals' said Annabeth, "They wouldn't have been able to do this stuff with their magic-sticks if they were."

Everyone suddenly went quiet as a loud thump and a groan could be heard from above us.

"It appears our visitors are awake." Said Chiron

'Should we go question them" said the councilor of Appolo's cabin.

"of course not," said Chiron, 'they'll never talk if we interrogate them, but they will talk amongst themselves."

_'Eavesdropping," _I thought, now _that's_ something I was good at.


	4. Wizards, Huh?

Third Person_

When Harry awoke, he found himself face-down on a hard-wood floor, his head throbbing painfully. Where was he, number four Privet Drive? How did he get here? Then the memories of what had happened crashed down on him. He, Ron and Hermione had apperated into a forest from Bill and Fleur's wedding, then they found some crazy camper with a sword had been eavesdropping on them. They had him cornered and then… then what? Why had he blacked out? His head throbbed painfully again. He felt the back of his skull and found a large bump. Someone must have knocked them out from behind.

Harry sat up and looked around. He was in a well furnished room with a low ceiling. It wasn't a prison cell or a cellar, but the door on the far side next to harry was locked. Harry reached for his pocket to take out his wand and perform the _Alohamora _charm, but it wasn't there. Camper dude must have taken his wand.

Ron and Hermione, who were also sprawled out on the floor, began to stir. Harry rushed over to help Hermione up. He was about to do the same for Ron, but as soon as Harry touched him, he leapt up and banged his head on the low ceiling. A loud thump echoed through the house, followed by Ran's groan of pain.

"_Shhh, _Ron they'll _hear_ you!" whispered Hermione, looking around wildly.

"Where the bloody hell are we?!" whispered Ron, surveying the room.

"I think that camper boy took us here." Said Harry.

"Camper boy…" growled Ron with gritted teeth, "next time I see him I'm going to give him the curse of the boogies and-"

"Don't get too excited," said Harry dully, "they took our wands."

As soon as Harry finished that sentence, he thought heard movement outside the door. But rushing to the keyhole, he saw that no one was there.

"Even if he didn't, you can't go around cursing muggles, Ron!" Hermione was saying.

'Oh, he's no muggle," said Ron. Harry turned around, suddenly paying rapt attention.

"When the fighting broke out, I pointed my wand at him and said '_agumente'_, you know, the water spell… I thought it would catch him off guard, maybe even slow him down' said Ron. Harry and Hermione nodded vigorously for him to go on,

"A jet of water shot out of my wand, like it should have, and it hit him square in the back, he should have been soaked! But…he wasn't even damp, he was completely dry."

Hermione nodded slowly, Harry could practically see her brain trying to figure out what was going on. "So if he's not a muggle,' she said, "What is he? He's not a wizard like us, or he-'

She stopped short as a definitely audible gasp could be heard outside the door. Ron forward and looked through the keyhole.

"IT'S THE SAME BLOODY CAMER BOY!" he roared furiously, "IS SPYING A HABIT OF YOURS YOU EFFING-"

The door opened and camper boy walked in, accompanied by at least ten other teenagers and a man in a wheelchair. There was no hope trying to fight this many people without wands, but they didn't look like they were here to fight.

"So," said camper boy, twirling a pen between his fingers, "wizards, huh?"


	5. A Common Foe

Harry, Ron and Hermione sat awkwardly around a ping pong table, side by side the campers. These people were definitely not regular muggles, one glance out the window showed him that. Tons of teenagers were outside practicing archery, going on climbing walls, or hanging out with (harry couldn't believe his eyes when he saw this) people who were goats from the waist down. They all wore the same shirt saying 'Camp Half-Blood'.

If he wasn't being held prisoner, Harry would have been curious and excited. But at the moment, he had other things on his mind.

They all sat silently around the table, not saying a word. The man in the wheelchair finally broke the silence.

'We should all introduce ourselves." He said "I am Chiron, one of the teachers here at camp. This is Percy Jackson." He said gesturing to camper boy. Around the table the kids all introduced themselves except for one buff, rough-looking girl with stringy brown hair, who muttered something about not giving information to the enemy.

After all the campers had introduced themselves they looked at Harry Ron, and Hermione expectantly. Harry took a deep breath and said; "I'm Harry Potter, this is Ron Weasley and hand Hermione Granger."

"but you probably already knew that because of your constant _spying_" muttered Ron. Harry knew he was probably right, but what worried him was what _else_ they had heard.

"Well young, ah, _wizards…_may I asked how you got into this camp?" he said casually.

"No" said Harry shortly, these people already knew they were wizards, they didn't need to know anything else. Chiron just smiled warily, as if he expected an answer like that.

"Very well, why did you come here?" he asked.

"We have a mission to complete." Said Hermione. "just give us our wands and we'll leave" she continued.

"And trust me, we'll never come back." Said Ron.

Chiron folded his hands and leaned forwards. "I'm intrigued, what is your, _mission_?" Harry sighted, he knew they would not let them keep it a secret.

"We have to find a dark wizard and destroy him. He's been cheating death for too long." He said.

At the last sentence, Percy turned to Chiron looking confued.

'That's _exactly_ what Nico said before leaving camp a week ago!" said Percy "He said he sensed someone growing in power, someone who had cheated death for too long. He said he didn't think this person was a half-blood, but he wasn't a mortal either!"

"Did he mention name?" asked Harry. He, Ron and Hermione were suddenly paying rapt attention.

"Uh, I think so" said Percy. "Something like 'Tom Riddle'."

Hermione gasped while Ron and Harry's eyes grew wide. After a moment of shocked silence, Harry said "I believe we are facing a common enemy. What does this Nico have to defend himself?"

"Just his sword and wits, as far as I know" said Percy.

"Oh dear," said Hermione

"If he finds Tom, he's dead." Ron muttered.

At Ron's words, Percy leapt up from his chair. "We need to Iris message him, see if he's okay." He said. Chiron nodded and gestured for Harry, Ron, Hermione, and Annabeth to follow as he and Percy went outside.

Outside the big house was an ornamental water fountain. A fine mist rose from the splashing water, creating rainbows in the sun. Percy fished out a large gold coin; it looked a bit like a galleon. He threw it into the rainbow and said; "oh Iris, goddess of the Rainbow, accept my offering".

Harry expected it to go through the mist and fall to the floor, but instead, in disappeared into thin air!

"Show me Nico Di Angelo' he said, and an image of a dark haired boy with pale skin wearing an aviator's jacket formed in the mist. It looked like he was walking on the ledge of a cliff, trying to get to a cave up ahead. Below him was a stormy sea.

"Nico!" said Percy, the boy yelped and almost lost his footing."Gods Percy, you startled me! What is it?" "We just wanted to make sure you were okay." Said Percy 'there are a couple of…uh…_people _who came here, they know more who you're tracking down than you do, maybe-"

"I seriously doubt that, Percy. I don't think there's another person alive who would be able to tell this man should have been dead long ago."

At this, Ron laughed out loud. "Sorry to disappoint you mate,' he said between chuckles, 'but I think you'll find there are millions of people who know exactly who you're hunting down."

Nico frowned 'who are you?" He asked.

"Ron Weasley" said Ron.

"Nico, I think it'd be if these people came with you on your quest." Said Percy

"What?" said Nico, Harry, Ron, and Hermione in union.

"All of you are trying to defeat the same person, you should work together" said Percy. "Nico has special talents and you have the information about this guy" he said to Harry, Ron and Hermione.

"Send them if you think it's best" said Nico reluctantly.

"Nico, your definitely not going to quit this quest, are you?' asked Harry.

"Nope" said Nico.

"Fine, we'll come with you.' Said Harry.

"Wow," said Percy, "that was easier than I thought it would be. If you three are going I'm coming to; I don't trust you three."

"I'm coming too," Annabeth said, "It's not only you three I don't trust, its seaweed brain too."

Harry rolled his eyes. "Anybody _else_ want to jump onto the ride?" he said irritably.

"Very well," said Chiron 'You five will join Nico on his quest. Harry, Ron, and Hermione will spend the night at cabin eleven."

"Meet up with me at that cave tomorrow, it's where Tom Riddle left his most prominent mark. I'm going there to investigate." Said Nico.

"Nico, do yourself a favor and don't" Harry said quickly. "It _is _where he left one of his horcruxes, but we already went there last year, there's nothing there but inferi anymore"

Nico frowned. "Who _are_ you people, and what are horcruxes and inferi?" he asked.

"We'll explain when we meet up with you." said Annabeth. "See you tomorrow then?" Nico nodded and cut the connection. They walked back into the Big House where everyone was eagerly waiting for them.

"Percy, Annabeth, Harry, Ron, and Hermione will be joining Nico on his quest." Said Chiron Turning to Harry, Ron and Hermione he said, "You will be spending the night at cabin eleven. Tomorrow your quest begins. This meeting is adjourned."


	6. The Night Before the quest

I just want to thank all the people who are reading this or have followed/faved this story. This is the first time I've written a crossover, or written any story for that matter, and I'm reassured by the fact that so many people are reading it after it being up for literally one day. Please continue to read, and please review this story, constructive criticism is appreciated. Thanks again everyone, now, on to the story!

-Silverwing321

Spending the night at cabin eleven was by far the worst part of the ordeal for Harry. After having their wands returned to them, he, Ron and Hermione were taken by two boys named Connor and Travis Stoll. They were scarily similar to the Weasely twins Fred and George, with the same mischievous grins and personalities. Harry could have sworn they had tried to pick pocket him three times in the short walk to the cabin.

Cabin eleven looked like an ordinary cabin, unlike all the other cabins he had seen. Some were made or sod bricks while another had walls of pure obsidian. Above the doorway of cabin eleven was a caduceus, the symbol he often saw at doctor's offices. The inside was packed with campers, some on bunk beds, but most sprawled on the floor in sleeping bags. As they walked in, the babble of talk quieted for a few moments, and then started up again in whispers. Harry wondered if the campers had already somehow gotten word of them being wizards.

After a few minutes in the cabin, Harry's suspicion was confirmed. The campers were all staring at Ron, Hermione, and him eyeing them warily as if they were about to explode. Hermione clutched her beaded bag so tightly her knuckles were white. Harry could understand why, it contained everything they had except for their wands and the invisibility cloak. They couldn't risk it getting stolen.

In the end the only way they could get a moment of privacy was when they left the cabin altogether and walked a fair amount of distance so they wouldn't be overheard.

"What is this place?" asked Ron when they were out of earshot, "And who are these people?"

"Well it's obviously some sort of training camp," said Harry, "probably teaching kids how to be fighters or something, judging by the sword fighting and archery practice.

"Did you see those…those…_things?!_" cried Hermione, "the half goat, half human creatures wandering around?!"

"If these people have some kind of magic we don't know about, it makes sense they have magical creatures we don't know about." Said Ron reasonably.

"That still doesn't answer the question of who these people are." Said Harry.

"There are a lot of references the Greek Gods here…" said Hermione "there was that big statue of Athena, the goddess of wisdom, and the caduceus is the sign of Hermes, the god of Travelers, that might be why we're in the cabin with the caduceus on it…oh, and did you see that one brick cabin; it was covered in ancient Greek words, and I _knew_ some of those words, they were spells! And the biggest brick above the doorway said 'Hecate'; she's the Greek goddess of magic!"

"Wow Hermione, where do you get time to learn all this stuff?!" said Ron, rolling his eyes.

"The point is these people obviously have some strong connection to the Greek gods, which could help us find out who they are!" snapped Hermione.

"Okay, okay." Said Ron "I'm just saying-

"We should get back to the cabin" said Harry, cutting him off. He was beginning to notice faces in the windows of cabin eleven, "we have a big day tomorrow, we should get some rest." he continued. And they headed back to cabin eleven.

Percy had already had a rough day, and what he needed was some restful sleep, not a fitful night of demigod dreams. No such luck came his way.

Percy first dreamed that he was in a large chamber; there were no windows or furniture, just one large mirror, a man with a funny turban, and a young boy. He looked about eleven years old. Percy looked closer and saw that the boy was Harry, only younger.

The turban-man began to speak, muttering to himself "What does this mirror do? How does it work? Help me master!"

To Young-Harry and Percy's horror, a horrible, rasping noise that was a voice answered him out of nowhere, "_Use the boy…Use the boy"_

Turban man rounded on Young-Harry

"POTTER," he shouted "Come here! Look in the mirror and tell me what you see."

Young-Harry slowly walked towards the mirror, all Percy saw was Young-Harry's reflection, but Harry's eyes widened, as if he saw something completely different.

"What is it?! What do you see?!" inquired the Turban man

I-I'm shaking hands with Dumbledore! I-I've won the House Cup" stuttered young Harry. Percy could tell he was lying, and so could the voice.

"_He lies." _It rasped. _"Let me speak to him, face to face"_

The turban man turned around and began to unravel his turban, and to Percy's horror, where the back of his head should have been, there was the most gruesome face Percy had ever seen. It was white as chalk and seemed to be rotting away at the edges and had slit-pupil, scarlet eyes.

"_Harry Potter" _it rasped _"we meet again"_

"Voldemort…" Young-Harry whispered, terrified.

"_Yes, you see what I've become? See what I must do to survive, live on another, and be a parasite. Unicorn blood has sustained me, but it cannot give me a body of my own. But there is something that can…something that LIES WITHIN YOUR POCKET!_"

Young-Harry began to sprint towards the exit, but Turban Man was faster. Within seconds, he was on top of Harry, with his wand raised. In desperation, Harry seized his face. Turban man began to scream in agony, the place where Harry touched him was burnt raw. He continued to scream as Harry looked at his hands in amazement, and then grabbed him again.

Percy could still hear the thing called Voldemort screaming '_KILL HIM! KILL HIIIIMM!' _as he awoke with a start. For a second, he panicked, trying to get back to sleep. What had happened to Harry? Was he alright? But after a moment, he calmed himself. Harry was fine, here at camp half-blood. Percy had a new respect for that guy, and wondered what else he had faced as he drifted off to sleep.

Okay, this chapter might have been a bit boring because it didn't advance the plot, but I felt it was necessary to have Percy know a bit about Harry's past and to show Harry, Ron, and Hermione trying to figure out these guys are Demigods.


	7. Explanations and Mysteries

**IMPORTANT; PLEASE READ**

You'll notice in this chapter I change the time of these events, in the beginning, Harry, Ron, And Hermione had just apperated from the wedding and hadn't destroyed the locket Horcrux yet. In this chapter I change the time to after they have destroyed the locket, but haven't yet been taken to the Malfoy Manor. Sorry everyone, but I just couldn't find a way to have Percy, Annabeth, and Nico put into the Ministry of Magic part of the story. Sorry again.

The next morning, after Percy was completely packed with a change of clothes, nectar, ambrosia, and riptide in his pocket, he went over to the Athena cabin. A grumpy looking boy answered the door. "Hi Percy" he said dully. Behind him, Annabeth appeared, looking much more awake in comparison.

"Ready to go, Seaweed Brain?" she asked.

"Yup, can I talk to you…privately" I asked.

"Sure," she said, coming out of the cabin. We walked down the courtyard between the cabins, out hands intertwined.

"So," I said, breaking the silence, "this is it. We're about to go on another quest. _With wizards_"

"I don't know how I feel about this," she said. "Do you think they can be trusted?" she asked.

"Yes." I said without hesitation. I couldn't help but feel more trusting of Harry ever since my ever since my dream last night. Annabeth eyed me suspiciously, as if she knew I was holding something back, but she didn't push the matter.

"Do you think they have a chance of finding out who we are? Who our parents are?" I asked.

"I don't know Percy, they'll definitely figure out we have some connection with the gods, but figuring out the whole story without a couple of hints would be pretty hard." She said, "Eventually we'll have to tell them, we can't go on this quest without them figuring it out one way or another." She was right, but the thought of a mortal knowing that the gods existed still bothered him. Rachel was different, she could see through the mist, and became the oracle.

"Who do you think this 'Harry Potter' guy is" asked Annabeth, "Remember when they were in the woods, they said something about people being tortured for his whereabouts."

"He says he's been trying to bring down this Tom Riddle guy, and it seems like he's gotten pretty far, maybe Tom's followers want to capture and kill him, just to get rid of a threat." I said

Annabeth nodded slowly, "I have a feeling there's more to it than that…" she said, trailing off, "they'll probably explain when we go on the quest, they already know much more about this 'dark wizard'."

We met Harry, Ron, and Hermione at the exit of the camp. They looked anxious to leave.

"Not bringing anything?" I asked, seeing they had nothing but their wands.

"No, we've packed." Said Hermione, holding up a small beaded bag. I hadn't noticed it before, but it still didn't look like it could carry much.

"So are we leaving already?" asked Harry impatiently

"One problem," said Annabeth "we didn't ask Nico where he was, he could be anywhere!"

I mentally slapped myself in the face, how could we have forgotten something as simple as that. "Well," I said in a resigned voice, "We can look forward to a lot of walking then."

At this, Hermione laughed out loud "Walk?" she said between chuckles, "I think not, we'll just apperate there." She said.

"Apperate?" said Annabeth, looking confused.

"Yes, it's how we got into this camp. It's when you…well; you'll see" said Hermione "everyone grab onto me." Harry and Ron took Hermione's arms while I reluctantly held Harry's elbow and Annabeth took my hand.

"You might want to hold your breath.' Said Hermione, and then, everything was black; he was being pressed very hard from all directions, as if he was being squeezed through a rubber tube. He couldn't see, his eyeballs were being pressed further into his head, his ears were being forced into his skull and then-

Percy collapsed onto his hands and knees, taking in deep, grateful breaths of cool, morning air. I _definitely _preferred shadow travel. Harry helped me onto my feet.

"It takes a little getting used to." He said "I'm just glad you didn't get splinched"

"Splinched?" I asked.

"Um, it's something that can happen in apperation" he said, "you'll know if it happens."

I didn't like the sound of that, but I didn't push the matter. Instead, I turned my attention to our surroundings. We had gone from the sunny hillside of camp half-blood to a foggy cliff edge in a matter of seconds! Below them was a one hundred foot drop to an ocean.

"This is where Nico was!" Annabeth said in amazement, "except, he was on that ledge" she pointed to a narrow ledge on the cliffside that lead to a cave.

"Is he still down there?" asked Hermione, peering over the edge.

"No" said a voice behind us. I turned around to see Nico Di Angelo standing behind us.

"Nico!" said Annabeth, rushing over to him.

"You got here a lot quicker than I thought you would." He said.

"That's because of our friends here," I said, 'This is Harry, Ron and Hermione."

Nico straightened up a bit and said "Nico, son of Ha-"

"NICO!" I said loudly, cutting him off before he could say who his father was "These people aren't actually half-bloods." I said attempting a casual tone.

"Let's sit down." Said Hermione in a friendly tone. "We have _a lot_ of explaining to do."

Three hours later, Harry, Ron, and Hermione's voices were all sore from explaining what could have taken up seven thick books.

''So let me get this straight" said Annabeth, "Tom Riddle, who later changed his name-"

"Don't say the name, its taboo." Reminded Ron.

'Yes, yes, I know," said Annabeth, "So, he actually put a bit of his soul _in side _and object."

"Seven bits of his soul." Said Harry."We already destroyed the first three bits-"

"But that's not scientifically possible!" said Annabeth, "You can't take a bit of your _soul_ out of yourself!"

Hermione smiled, "If you go by that logic, Annabeth, _we_ aren't scientifically possible either. You can't levitate something unless it's somehow supported, and yet…" she pointed her wand at a rock, which rose gently into the air, then fell back down.

"_Wow" _said Nico softly, glancing from Hermione's wand to the rock to her wand.

"I have to say, Nico, I'm impressed." Said Harry, "How did you know you-know-who left a Horcrux in that cave?"

"I could just sense a soul in there." He said. "I assumed Volde- I mean, You-Know-Who was in there, I never would have imagined just a _piece _of his soul was in there."

"It's not there anymore" said Harry, "We found it and destroyed it."

"I know, I know." Said Nico.

After a moment of silence, I finally said "So let's get on with this quest! Find all the Horcruxes and destroy them."

"It's not that simple, mate." Said Ron, "We don't know what or where the other horcruxes are. And we have to keep on the move every night because the ministry has a price on Harry's head."

"Then it looks like we just added to your troubles." I said apologetically, "We attract monsters."

"_Attract monsters?! _Greek monsters no doubt!_" _cried Hermione, staring at them.

How had she known it would be Greek monsters? I had a feeling I knew what question the wizards were going to ask next.

"Okay guys," said Harry in a business-like tone, "It's your turn to explain. Who are you people, some sort of Greek god Worshiper/Fighter/ Magic Abilities people?"

I raised my eyebrows, "What gave away the Greek part?"

"Your entire camp." Said Hermione shortly.

"And the magic abilities?'

"Hecates cabin, again, at your camp."

I sighed , "Okay guys, what would you say I told you that all the Greek gods, Zeus, Athena, Poseidon, they were all real.

Ron put his face in his hands "A few days ago I would have said that's rubbish, but now, I doubt anything could surprise me."

"That's good," I said "because there are a lot more surprises coming your way."

A while later, after they had explained the Greek gods having kids, and those kids being demigods, Ron groaned loudly.

"You're right, you guys are just extra baggage" he said.

"No, we aren't!"said Nico suddenly, "I tracked down the locket horcrux, didn't I? I can sense where souls are, and where the other horcruxes are!"

"And Annabeth is really good at solving mysteries; she's the daughter of Athena!" I said

"Anything you're useful at, camper-boy?" asked Ron, who had taken a liking to the nickname 'Camper boy'

"I'm a good at sword fighting, I took a dip in the river Styx, so I'm invincible-"

"Like Achilles?!" asked Hermione.

"Kind of, and I'm the son of Poseidon.' I said, thrusting my hand out over the cliff's edge, and with a tugging sensation in my gut, a huge geyser exploded out of nowhere then turned to nothing. Ron wolf-whistled

"I also know a bit about prophecies ruining your life." I said quietly to Harry. Harry nodded and turned to Nico.

"Can you tell where the next horcrux is?" he asked

Nico closed his eyes and concentrated, "It's harder to locate than this one," he said 'It's in a place full of wizards, though."

"Hogwarts!" said Harry excitedly.

"There are a lot of other places full of wizards Harry." Said Hermione, "And if you show your face at Hogwarts you'll be taken to Azkaban!"

"It's heavily guarded" continued Nico, " There's some sort of monster nearby, it's not a Greek monster, so I can't tell what it is." He opened his eyes, "It's very far east of here, if we get any closer I might be able to pin point where it is."

"We can apperate a bit farther, and then I suggest we settle down for the night. "Said Hermione.

"No way," I said "I'll think I'll go with shadow traveling." I had had enough apperation to last me a lifetime.

"Suit yourself" she said, "Annabeth, what about you?"

"I'm going with seaweed brain." Said Annabeth.

"Allright, see you all one hundred miles east of here." Said Harry.


	8. Captured

When Percy, Annabeth and Nico arrived at their campsite, Harry, Ron and Hermione were already there. Hermione was waving her wand at the sky, muttering spells. Percy could have sworn that every time she finished saying a spell, he could see a large, transparent bubble around them being reinforced.

"What are you doing?" Inquired Annabeth when she saw Hermione.

"Setting up the usual protective enchantments," she replied, "they should keep most people from seeing or getting close to us."

"Will they keep out monsters?" Percy asked.

"I don't know; we've never encountered monsters before." Said Hermione. "Could you help Ron and Harry set up the tent?"

"_Tent?"_ asked Nico, looking around for a large suitcase that could hold a tent.

"Yes, it's in the bag." She said, pointing to the tiny, beaded purse. Sure enough, when Percy put his hand in, he felt a much larger space than the bag suggested. Feeling around the large space, his hand closed around a pole, and he pulled out an entire tent!

"How did that fit in there!?" asked Annabeth, grabbing the bag and peering into its depths.

"Undetectable Extension Charm." Said Hermione simply.

When the tent was assembled, Percy began to wonder how everyone would fit inside, it was about big enough for two or maybe three people, they were a group of six, but when he ducked inside his mouth fell open. The inside of the tent resembled a small apartment, complete with a bunk bed, a small kitchen, and a sitting area. Annabeth opened her mouth to ask how this could be, but then simply shook her, concluding it must be more magic. Nico walked over to a secluded armchair and sat there, deep in thought. Harry and Hermione settled down on the beds, as if they had lived here their whole lives. Annabeth continued to look around in awe, no doubt wondering how the architect managed to make the apartment-like inside fir in the shell of the tent. Ron pulled a portable radio out of the bag saying

"There's a program I keep trying to get on the radio, it's called _Potterwatch. _It's the only one that tells the truth about what's going on! Most of the channels are following You-Know-Who these days; I'm going to try to tune in…"

'I'll take the first watch then." Said Percy, grabbing Riptide and heading out into the forest clearing. He sat down on a rock, and surveyed their campsite, pondering what had happened in the last few days. After a half hour, Percy's ears perked up as he heard the crack of a branch being stepped on. He stood up and uncapped Riptide, looking around. Then, he saw a woman, walking out of the clearing. Her entire body was shrouded in mist and she seemed to glide as she walked toward him. It was Hecate, the goddess of magic.

Percy bowed slightly, "Lady Hecate" he murmured.

"Percy Jackson" she said, the mist clearing way. "You have met my stepchildren, the Wizards and Witches." Percy nodded, waiting for her to go on.

"This crossroad was one of the most unlikely things to happen" she said. "A crossroad I hoped never would happen. Thantos and Hades grow inpatient. They want the soul of Tom Riddle. Before the wizards met you, I was positive that their crossroads would lead to the defeat of Riddle, but now, the future is unclear."

'We're not trying to stop them from defeating him, we're trying to help." Said Percy.

'I _know_ that Percy Jackson, but the outcome of your 'helping' is unclear. You must not do anything to deter the wizards, if Riddle is not defeated, not even the wizards can _begin_ to comprehend what changes the world will go through. Mortals will be slaughtered. Demigods will be persecuted. Chaos will reign supreme. "

"We won't do anything to seriously influence how their quest goes, Lady Hecate" Percy said.

"I certainly hope so." She said. "I will send you another dream about Harry Potter's past tonight."

"_You_ sent that dream?" asked Percy.

"Yes, Percy Jackson."

"Lady Hecate, please do me a favor and don't" said Percy "I already know how important this guy is, I-"

"Percy Jackson, I need you to learn to trust Harry more, to know how vital it is that you protect him. Wizards cannot kill Greek monsters, just as demigods cannot defeat magical beasts. Do you deny that you trusted Harry more after your first dream?"

Percy did not reply, and Hecate nodded, proving her point.

"Farewell Percy Jackson," she said, "And may all the gods be with you."

Percy closed his eyes and looked away as Hecate glowed brightly, changed into her true godly form, and then disappeared. After a few seconds of standing there in shock, Percy rushed back into the tent, eager to tell Annabeth and Nico what had just happened, but found that he had just walked into the most bizarre moment he had ever seen. Harry was pacing back and forth, looking excited and shouting like he had just had an epiphany, while Ron and Hermione seemed to be doing their best to keep him from talking.

"But did you hear what Fred said?!" he was saying, "He's abroad! He's still looking for the wand, I knew it!"

"Harry-"

"Come on Hermione, why are you so determined not to admit it? Vol-"

"HARRY, NO!"

"-demort's after the Elder Wand!"

"The name's Taboo!" said Ron, jumping up, "I told you Harry, we can't say it anymore-! "

But he fell silent as a loud crack echoed outside, similar to the noise that sounded when Harry, Ron, and Hermione had apperated into the camp. Percy, Annabeth, and Nico all drew their swords. Ron took out a small machine that looked somewhat like a cigarette lighter and clicked it. All the laps in the tent went out . Percy could hear rough, excited voices approaching.

"Come out here with your hands up!" said a raspy voice from outside. "We know you're in there! You've got half a dozen wands pointing at you and we don't care who we curse!"

Percy looked around at the other's outlines in the darkness. He saw Hermione hesitate for half a second, then point her wand at Harry. With a bang and a burst of white light, Harry dropped to the ground in agony, his hands clutching his rapidly swelling face.

Annabeth gasped and Percy whispered "_What did you do?!"_ to Hermione.

"It's just a stinging jinx; it'll swell his face and make him unrecognizable. We can't let these people know who he is!" she said.

In the midst confusion, the intruders had entered the tent.

"Get up vermin." Said one roughly to Harry, grabbing him and removing his wand.

Percy swung Riptide at a man who was sneaking up on Annabeth while she battled a large, buff man. Outside, he could hear Ron and Hermione wrestling with two or three other men. Suddenly, Percy was hoisted into the air by someone behind him. He swung his sword desperately at his captor, until he realized there was no one there. The buff man Annabeth had been fighting with had suspended the all in the air and was now grinning stupidly. Desperate, Percy threw Riptide at the man, knowing it would eventually return to his pocket. It sailed over his head, and instead hit the man that was holding Harry in the shin. He screamed in pain and dropped him, then with difficulty, pulled the blade out of his body and grabbed Harry.

"I'll take that, sweet heart.' Said someone behind Annabeth, plucking her dagger out of her grip. Nico had already lost his sword and Riptide still lay on the floor of the tent.

Defenseless, Harry, Percy, Annabeth, and Nico were taken outside and tied to a pole with Ron and Hermione.


	9. The Second Dream

Harry had never felt more worthless. His friends had been fighting for their lives and were now captured, disarmed, and tied to a pole. And what had he done during this time; sat there in pain because of a stinging jinx.

"Search the tent!" said a voice somewhere behind him. There were a series of bangs and crashes, the men were pushing down chairs and tables in the tent as they searched.

"Now let's see what we got." Said a gloating voice that Harry recognized as Fenrir Greyback. He could hear Hermione rapidly whispering to Annabeth what werewolves were and how Fenrir was one.

"What happened to you, ugly?" he continued, addressing Harry.

"Stung." Harry muttered, "Been stung."

"Yeah, looks like it." Said Greyback. "'What's your name?"

"Uh, Dudley" Harry improvised.

"And your first name?"

"I- Vernon. Vernon Dudley."

"Check the list, Scabior." Said Greyback. Harry heard him move sideways to look at Ron. "An' what about you, Ginger?

"I'b Bardy." Harry could tell his mouth was full of blood. He must have been punched in the fight. "Bardy Weasley."

"A Weasley?" rasped Greyback, "So you're related to blood-traitors even if you're not a mudblood. And your pretty friend…?" he said, turning to Hermione, the relish in his voice making Harry's skin crawl.

"Penelope Clearwater!" she said. She sounded terrified, but convincing.

"What's your blood status?"

'Half-Blood" she said.

"Easy enough to check" said the one called Scabior. "And your name?" Harry craned his neck and saw Scabior was addressing Percy, who was idly turning Pen in his hands, where had he gotten that?

"I'm not about to tell you that.' He said coolly. In less than a second, he had uncapped the pen and, somehow, it had turned into his sword! With one swift movement, he plunged it into Scabior's gut.

"Scabior!" cried one of the men, running over.

"Where did he get that bloody sword!?" said another.

"Cut the ropes, quick!" Harry heard Nico say.

"I'm trying." Said Percy, "But in case you haven't noticed, I'm tied up! I can only move my wrist."

"Somebody grab the sword from him!" Harry heard someone say.

"_Stupefy!" _said another voice. Harry didn't need to look to know Percy was unconscious.

**Percy**-

I knew that I should expect another dream about Harry's past the next time I fell asleep, but that knowledge didn't help when a spell knocked me unconscious.

I was standing in a long, dark chamber. Towering stone pillars carved with serpents rose to support a ceiling lost in darkness, casting long, black shadows through the odd, greenish gloom that filled the place. At the end of the hall, carved into the wall, was a towering, ancient stone face. It looked rather monkeyish and had a long, thin beard.

If front of the face were three people. There was a girl sprawled out on the floor. She looked similar to Ron, with the same flaming red hair and freckles. Was she dead? No, she was breathing, but just barely.

Standing protectively in front of her was a boy Percy instantly recognized as Harry. We was still younger than the way Percy had seen him, but older than he was in the last dream he had had. Perhaps twelve years old? He was clutching a very old, dirty hat and perched on his shoulder was a magnificent, golden red bird.

Facing him was another boy, about sixteen years old. Percy could have mistaken him for a ghost, for the edges of his body seemed to be faded away; but as the girl became weaker, he became clearer. He seemed to be interrogating Harry.

"So tell me, Potter, how did you escape, with nothing but a scar, while lord Voldemort's powers were broken?!" he said.

"Why do you care?! Voldemort was after your time!" At this, the boy smiled one of the cruelest smiles Percy had ever seen, making Percy's skin crawl

"Voldemort" he said, "Is my past, present, and future." He held up a wand and began to write in midair;

**Tom Marvolo Riddle**

Then, he waved the wand swiftly across the name, and the letters began to rearrange themselves, until they spelled;

**I Am Lord Voldemort**

"_You!" _Harry said, in barely more than a whisper, "Your Voldemort! You're the one who's been attacking the students!" his voice had risen until he was yelling.

"You see, Harry Potter. Lord Voldemort can never _truly_ die. And now, Harry, I'm going to teach you a little lesson. Let's match the powers of Lord Voldemort, heir of Salazar Slytherin against the famous, Harry Potter." He turned towards the face, opened his mouth and let out a long hiss. Percy stared, confused. What would a hiss do? It couldn't be a signal; there was no one else in the chamber, so why did Harry look so terrified?

Then, the carving of a face began to move. Its mouth slowly slid open like a doorway, and Percy heard the stirring of a great beast inside. Grabbing the girl, Harry began to run with, for some reason, his eyes shut tightly. Then, out of the statue, slithered out a huge, poisonous green snake. It looked at Voldemort expectantly, as if waiting for a command, and hissed, showing rows and rows of razor sharp teeth, all dripping with venom. Voldemort let out another short hiss, and it dawned on Percy, _he was talking to the snake._

As soon as Voldemort issued the command, the snake began to pursue Harry, but the bird on Harry's shoulder flew from its perch and flew straight to the snake, sword-like talons aiming for the beast's great yellow eyes. While the snake and the bird fought, Percy noticed Harry jamming the hat on desperately. The hat seemed to grow on Harry's head until it fell onto the ground. Harry reached inside and Percy half expected to see him pull out a bunny. Instead, pulled out a huge wicked sharp sword with a ruby encrusted hilt. After looking at it shock for a minute, he charged the snake.

Percy watched in awe as Harry battled the snake and Voldemort stood there, laughing as he watched Harry struggled. Suddenly, the snake shrieked as Harry plunged the sword into the roof of its mouth just one of its teeth sank deep into his arm.

For a second, Voldemort just stared in shock as his monster swayed, then toppled to the ground. But then he smiled, noticing Harry. His entire body was draining of color as he tottered towards to the girl.

"You're dead Harry Potter." Said Voldemort "It will only take a few moments until the poison takes effect. I'm going to sit here, Harry Potter, and watch you die."

Harry collapsed to the ground as Percy woke with a start.


	10. Malfoy Manor

"_PERCY!" _cried Annabeth, who was standing over him. He was lying on a cold floor in what looked like a cellar. He sat up and felt himself being pulled into a bear hug.

"When they hit you with that spell, I- I thought…Oh Gods, Seaweed Brain don't ever scare me like that again!" said Annabeth, leaning over and kissing my cheek.

"We told you, Annabeth, it was just a stunning spell" said a girl behind Annabeth. She had long, dirty blond hair and large, misty eyes. She was thin as a stick; it looked like she had not eaten for weeks. "He was just unconscious, not dead." She continued.

"Where are we?" I said, looking around. They were definitely in a cellar of some sort, but it seemed to be lit by a dozen miniature suns floating in the air. Huddled in the corner was a frail old man and across the room, was another boy with a bruised and bloodied face, sitting next to a strange, short creature lying on the ground. Near the bolted door at the far side of the cellar, Harry and Ron were desperately searching for an exit.

Annabeth quickly summed up what had happened, how their captors had found out who harry was, and took him to this manor, where he Voldemort supposedly had his headquarters. They were about to call him when a lady, whose name was Bellatrix Lestrange, had spotted the sword Harry, Ron and Hermione had and had taken Hermione for questioning. In the cellar, they had met their fellow prisoners, Luna Lovegood, Dean Thomas, Mr. Ollivander, and a goblin, Griphook.

"Wait a second!" I said, a detail from the dream coming back to me, "That sword they carry around, that's the sword Harry killed the snake with!" Annabeth simply looked confused at this comment, but when Harry heard him say it, he turned around quickly.

"How do you know that?!" he asked.

"I, uh…" But Harry's attention was quickly drawn away as an earsplitting scream could be heard from above them.

"HERMIONE! HERMIONE!" Ron cried, pounding his fists on the wall.

"I'm going to ask you again, where did you get this sword, WHERE?!" said a voice from upstairs.

"We found it-we found it-PLEASE!" the sound of Hermione's screams filled the cellar.

I stood up and ran to the door, where Harry and Ron were still trying to look for an exit. There was a heavy padlock on the front, and a wooden bolt on the outside, both of which could be broken by celestial bronze. I felt inside my pocket, but my pen still hadn't reappeared.

"You are lying, filthy Mudblood, and I know it! You have been inside my vault in Gringotts! Tell the truth, _tell the truth!_"

Another scream from above.

"What else did you take?! ANSWER ME! CRUCIO!"

I saw Harry look around in desperation, and then grabbed the small pouch that he sometimes wore around his neck and dumped out the content. Nothing useful came out, just a broken wand, a tiny golden ball, and a shard of a mirror. He grabbed the shard of mirror, and Percy could have sworn he saw Harry's reflected green eye replaced by a piercing blue one.

"Help us!" Harry shouted at the mirror, "We're in the cellar of Malfoy Manor, help us!"

The blue eye blinked, and was then gone.

"How did you get into my vault?!" Percy heard Bellatrix scream, 'How did you get this sword!?

"It's-It's a copy, it's a copy!" screamed Hermione

"A copy?" screeched Bellatrix, "A likely story!"

"But we can find that out easily!" said a second voice Percy didn't recognize. "Draco, fetch the goblin, he can tell us whether the sword is real or not."

Harry dashed across the cellar and began to whisper frantically into the goblins ear, probably beseeching him to say the sword was fake. Someone was approaching the door, the one named Draco.

"Stand back!" he said, his voice shaking, "Don't try anything or I'll kill you!"

Everyone did as they were bidden except for Percy, Nico, and Annabeth, who defiantly stood their ground.

"Get back!" Ron half demanded, half pleaded. "If Griphook says the swords a fake, they'll stop torturing Hermione!" He sounded as though that one action was all he had ever wanted. Reluctantly, the three half-bloods obeyed. With a click of Ron's machine, all the lights went out just as the door opened. A pale boy walked in, his wand held out in front of him. He seized the goblin by the arm and dragged him out of the cellar, bolting the door behind him.

At that moment, a loud crack echoed through the cellar. Ron clicked his machine, revealing a small, goblin-like creature that had apperated into their midst. It was about as tall as Percy's knees and had huge, bat –like ears and tennis ball shaped eyes.

"DOBB-" Annabeth slammed her hand over Ron's mouth to keep him from yelling.

"Who-What _is _that?!" she asked.

"Dobby, the house elf." Said Ron shortly and he hurried over to Harry who was crouched down, talking to the elf.

"And you can take Humans with you?' He was asking. The elf nodded.

"Right" said Harry "I want you to grab Luna, Dean, and and take them-take them to-"

"Bill and Fleurs" Ron finished. He hurriedly gave the elf an address and argued with Luna and Dean, who both wanted to stay and help. Percy couldn't help but be reminded of some of the younger campers who were barley over eleven years old and had wanted to help fight Kronos in the last war. As soon as they had apperated away with a loud crack, a voice could be heard upstairs,

"What was that!? Did you hear that? Wormtail, go check on the prisoners" said the voice.

"We'll have to tackle him!" whispered Annabeth.

"Shouldn't be too hard" said Nico, "He's outnumbered, five to one."

"Stand Back!" said a wheezy voice outside the door, "I'm coming in!" No one stood back. The door swung open, and for a second, the man in the entrance just stared at the five prisoners facing him. Then, in less than a second, he was overpowered with Nico's firm hand clamped over his mouth.

"What is it Wormtail?" called a voice from above.

"Nothing!" said Ron in a passable imitation of Wormtail's voice, "All's fine!" he continued as he wrestled Wormtail's wand out of his hand.

"Tie him up" said Percy, heading for the exit. He, Harry, Ron, Annabeth and Nico bolted up the stairs. From above, Percy could hear the goblin's reedy voice saying "No, this sword is a fake"

Three more flights of steps to go,

"Are you sure," said Ballatrix's voice, "Quite sure?"

"Yes" said the goblin.

Two more flights

"Good," said Bellatrix "And now, we call the dark lord!"

Harry stopped mid-step on the last flight of stairs, clutching his scar, clearly in agony.

"Harry! Are you okay?" said Annabeth

"Yes," he said, straightening up, "I'm fine! Let's go!"

"I think," said Bellatrix's voice, "we can dispose of this Mudblood. Greyback, feast on her if you want her."

"NOOOOOOOO!" Ron shouted, bursting through the doorway first and running to Hermione who was pale and limp.

The battle was a blur of spells and blades. Annabeth and Nico had regained their weapons and I was using Riptide to its full capability. It seemed to go on forever until I heard the crack of the elf appearing. We all held on to him just as Bellatrix threw a knife at our disappearing forms.


	11. Shell Cottage

Harry felt the familiar sensation of being squeezed through a tube as they apperated out of the manor and landed on solid earth and. He could smell salty air nearby; they must be near the ocean. He saw Nico on the ground taking in deep breaths of air; Harry remembered this was his first time apperating.

"Is everyone alright?" he asked, and everyone nodded except for Griphook, who merely nodded.

"Is this the right place Dobby?" he asked turning to the elf, but his heart nearly stopped as he saw Dobby swaying before him, Bellatrix's knife impeded deep into his chest

"DOBBY!" He cried, running towards the elf, "Dobby-no-HELP!"

Percy rushed over to his side and scooped up the elf, then began to run. Then, without hesitation, he jumped off the cliff and into the sea below, carrying Dobby with him.

"_IS HE MENTAL!?" _shouted Ron, peering over the cliff with Hermione in his arms.

"No." said Annabeth, a smile tugging at her lips, "He's a genius!"

Harry barley heard any of this, his mind so clouded with grief for the elf, and rage that Percy had just sent him to a watery grave. Then, out of nowhere, a huge geyser erupted from the sea, with Percy standing triumphantly onto, still holding Dobby. He stepped onto land and gently set down the elf, who stood up happily. Bellatrix's knife was nowhere to be seen, and Dobby seemed to be in perfect health! For a moment, Dobby just stood there, gazing at his unscathed chest in wonder, then, he ran towards Percy, joyous.

"Thank you sir! You has saved Dobby's life! Dobby is forever grateful sir! Thank you sir!" cried the elf; bowing so low his nose touched the ground. Then, he promptly stood up and hugged Percy around the waist. Annabeth walked over to Percy and held his hand, grinning.

"Nice job, Seaweed Brain." She said. Even Nico had cracked a smile. Harry and Ron, however, just stared open mouthed from Percy to the elf then back to Percy.

"But-What-how-?" Ron stuttered, but he was cut off from a voice farther away.

'Who's there?!" it said, "Identify yourselves!"

Dobby abruptly let go of Percy to see the figure the voice was coming from, while Annabeth, Percy, and Nico all drew their blades. The man speaking looked somewhat like Ron, with flaming red hair tied in a long ponytail down his back and freckles. He had many scars on his body.

"Bill! It's me, Ron!" said Ron running up to the man, Bill. But bill was still pointing his wand at Ron. Ron sighed, and then said.

"I'm Ron Bilius Weasley, second youngest child in the Weasley family, my patronus is a dog and I came to stay with you and Fleur a couple of weeks ago."

Bill quickly lowered his wand. "Ron! What are you doing here? Who are-?" He quickly stopped talking as he saw the half conscious and Hermione limp on the ground next to Harry. "Come inside." He said.

A few hours later, after Percy, Annabeth, and Nico had been introduced to Bill, Ron's brother, and his wife Fleur Delecour, his wife, Bill began to get curious about who exactly the half-bloods were.

"So, where are you from?" asked Bill over the dinner table. They were dinning with him as well as Fleur, Dean, and Luna. Hermione and were still too weak to come down and had their food delivered to their rooms and Griphook, who was in perfect condition, was too stubborn and haughty to join them and insisted he be brought his meals.

"We're from America, Long-Island" said Percy.

"I see," said Bill, "So why did you come to England?"

"Uh, we came here to help fight You-Know-Who." I improvised.

"Then we came across Harry, Ron and Hermione, and since then we've been helping them on their mission." Finished Annabeth.

Bill nodded, but eyed them suspiciously. "And how exactly did you 'come across' them?" he asked.

"We, uh-"

"Bill!" said Fleur in her thick French accent, "It eez' not polite to interrogate- uh-_question_ ze' guests at ze' dinner table!"

Bill nodded and the rest of the dinner finished in silence except for the occasional small talk. Bill seemed friendly with Percy, Annabeth, and Nico when he showed them their room, but it was clear he didn't trust them when he pulled Harry aside for a private talk.

"Harry, I want you to know you can tell me anything" Bill had said to him quietly, "So I want an honest answer, where did those three come from?"

"I can't tell you that Bill, I'm sorry." He said.

"Just like you couldn't let any of the Order join your quest?" he asked, raising his eyebrows, "What allows these strangers join your mission, and yet not any of the Order?"

"They're…_different_ Bill. Maybe someday I can tell you who they are, but now's not the time." Said Harry.

Bill sighed. "I trust your judgment Harry, if you think they can be trusted, that's your decision, but they seem awfully odd to me." Said Bill, "especially that Nico one, I just don't think you should let them in on whatever secret mission your doing, Harry."

"Thanks for the advice, Bill, but they're already in on it now, nothing's going to change that." Said Harry, before walking away to join Ron, Percy Annabeth, and Nico in Hermione's room.

"What were you talking about downstairs?" asked Annabeth when he arrived.

"Bill wants to know what's going on." Said Harry, "He doesn't trust you three."

"Quite understandably" said Percy, "If I were in his shoes, I wouldn't trust me either."

"Let's get back to the topic at hand." Said Hermione, who looked much better and was sitting up in bed. "Where's the next Horcrux?"

"In a place called Gringotts, in Bellatrix's vault." Said Nico without hesitation.

"That's what I thought too; by the way Bellatrix was so panicked when she asked me what else we had taken from her vault." Said Hermione.

"Speaking of that," said Percy, "Where _did_ you get that sword? You didn't steal it from the vault did you?"

"No, the one in her vault is a fake." Said Harry "We found this one in the woods. Someone left it for us…" he trailed off lost in thought.

"I'm telling you two, it was Dumbledore!" Ron said suddenly to Harry and Hermione. Hermione rolled her eyes and Percy could tell this was an old argument.

"Dumbledore is dead, Ron." Said Hermione, "There's no point denying it."

"Come on Hermione; look at the facts, the silver doe that lead us to the sword, the eye in the mirror-"

"Harry admits he could have imagined the eye." Said Hermione, cutting Ron off "Didn't you Harry?"

"Yes," said Harry, "But I seriously doubt I did."

"I saw an eye too!" said Percy "It was bright blue, and I don't think two people could have imagined the same thing."

"There you go!" said Ron, triumphantly, 'Dumbledore's alive, and, helping us!"

"Well, uh, that eye could have been anybody! If someone's helping us, that's good but whoever it is, it isn't Dumbledore." Said Hermione. "As for the Horcrux, I truly hope it isn't in Gringotts-"

"It is." Said Nico, "I could tell she was concerned about a soul."

"Oh no, this is bad." Said Hermione, "How are we going to' break into Gringotts, it's never been done before!"

"It shouldn't be too hard" said Percy, 'Breaking and entering is elementary to us."

"But this isn't just any old muggle bank!" said Hermione, "This is _the_ safest place to put something; it's guarded by spells, enchantments, even dragons!"

"Dragons?" said Nico, "Well that explains why I sensed a beast nearby."

"Is there something we could study the building by, a blueprint or map or something?" asked Annabeth. Percy smiled at this. It was so like Annabeth, when in doubt, turn to architecture.

"The place is huge; it spreads out all across England underground! No one knows anything much about it, much less how to navigate it." Said Ron "Except for the goblins. They run the place." he continued as an afterthought.

"Then we'll talk to Griphook." Said Harry.

"He'll never help us, Harry." Said Ron.

"I know I wouldn't betray _my_ old work place." Said Percy.

"We'll just have to make him agree. He's the only way we have a chance of getting the second Horcrux." Said Harry.

"If he doesn't cooperate, we'll have to force him to help us." Said Percy.

"No, that's too risky." Said Annabeth, "if we force him to help, he'll not only have a grudge, but a huge tactical advantage."

"There are tons of ways he could expose or harm us if he wanted to." Said Nico, "Unless he willingly helps us, we've got no chance."

At that moment, Fleur came into the room, clutching a pile of laundry in her arms.

"Fleur, where's Griphook?" asked Annabeth.

"E' eez in zee' smallest bedroom." She said, her brow creasing at the thought of him. He had been a lot of trouble for her. They headed over to talk to him. Taking a deep breath, Harry knocked on the bedroom door.

"Come in." said his reedy voice. The room was dimly lit, the red cotton curtains casting a fiery glow over the tiny bedroom. Griphook was sitting on the bed.

"You are a strange group of wizards." He said finally after an uncomfortable pause.

"How so?" asked Harry

"You saved an elf" said Griphook, looking at Percy, "And a goblin." Turning his gaze towards Harry. "You brought me here, you saved me."

"I take it you're not sorry." Said Harry a little impatiently

"Oh no, Harry Potter." Said Griphook, twirling his long fingers through his beard, "But you are a very strange group of wizards."

"Well, Griphook, we need some help." Said Annabeth, "Help you can give to us."

The goblin gave no sign of encouragement, but continued to stare unblinkingly at the six of them.

"We need break into a Gringotts vault." Said Harry finally. The goblin remained silent for a moment, not a single emotion crossing his face.

"Break into a Gringotts vault?" he said at last, "It is impossible."

"No, it's been done." Ron contradicted.

"Yeah, the same day I first met you Griphook." Said Harry, "My birthday, seven years ago." Percy raised his eyebrows. So Harry had met Griphook before, what was his connection with him?

"The vault in question was empty at the time," snapped the goblin, and Percy understood that even though Griphook had let Gringotts, he was offended at the idea of its defenses being breached. "Its protection was minimal."

"Well, the vault we need to get into isn't empty, and I'm guessing its protection will be pretty powerful," said Nico. "It belongs to the Lestranges."

"You have no chance," said Griphook flatly. "No chance at all. 'If you seek beneath our floors, a treasure that was never yours-"

"Thief, you have been warned, beware.' yeah, I know, I remember," said Harry. Percy was confused at this, why would a bank have a trademark poem? Then, he just shook his head; these wizards did pretty strange things.

"But we're not trying to get ourselves any treasure; we're not trying to take anything for personal gain. Can you believe that?" Annabeth continued.

The goblin looked slantwise at Harry.

"If there was a wizard of whom I would believe that they did not seek personal gain," said Griphook finally, "it would be you, Harry Potter. Goblins and elves are not used to the protection or the respect that you have shown this night. Not from wand-carriers."

"Wand carriers." Percy murmured. He only just realized have only the wizards carried wands, though many other creatures were full sentient and clearly magical.

"The right to carry a wand," said the goblin quietly, "has long been contested between wizards and goblins."

"Well, goblins can do magic without wands," said Ron.

"That is immaterial! Wizards refuse to share the secrets of wand-lore with other magical beings, they deny us the possibility of extending our powers!"

"Well, goblins have magic that they won't share either," said Annabeth.

"That's right!" Said Ron "You won't tell us how to make swords and armor the way you do. Goblins know how to work metal in a way wizards have never - "

"It doesn't matter," said Harry, noting Griphook's rising color. "This isn't about wizards versus goblins or any other sort of magical creature-"

Griphook gave a nasty laugh.

"But it is, it is precisely that! As the Dark Lord becomes ever more powerful, your race is set still more firmly above mine! Gringotts falls under Wizarding rule, house-elves are slaughtered, and who amongst the wand-carriers protests?"

"We do!" said Hermione. She had sat up straight, her eyes bright. "We protest! And I'm hunted quite as much as any goblin or elf, Griphook! I'm a Mudblood!"

"Don't call yourself-" Ron muttered.

"Why shouldn't I?" said Hermione. "Mudblood, and proud of it! I've got no higher position under this new order than you have, Griphook! It was me they chose to torture, back at the Malfoys!"

As she spoke, she pulled aside the neck of the dressing gown to reveal the thin cut Bellatrix had made, scarlet against her throat. Percy didn't know what a Mudblood was, but it was obviously some kind of insult. He remembered when Fenrir was questioning Harry, Ron, and Hermione and had asked for their 'blood status'.

"Did you know that it was Harry who set Dobby free?" she asked. "Did you know that we've wanted elves to be freed for years?" Ron fidgeted uncomfortably on the arm of Hermione's chair. It was clear he hadn't been as enthusiastic about elves' rights as Hermione. Percy, Annabeth and Nico showed no attempt to imply they had any art of it.

"You can't want You-Know-Who defeated more than we do, Griphook!" finished Hermione.

The goblin gazed at Hermione with the same curiosity he had shown Harry.

"What do you seek within the Lestranges' vault?" he asked abruptly. "The sword that lies inside it is a fake. This is the real one." He looked from one to the other of them. "I think that you already know this. You asked me to lie for you back there."

"But the fake sword isn't the only thing in that vault, is it?" asked Nico. "Perhaps you've seen other things in there?"

The goblin twisted his beard around his finger again.

"It is against our code to speak of the secrets of Gringotts. We are the guardians of fabulous treasures. We have a duty to the objects placed in our care, which were, so often, wrought by our fingers."

The goblin stroked the sword, and his black eyes roved from the six of them and then back again.

"So young," he said finally, "to be fighting so many."

"Will you help us?" said Percy."We haven't got a hope of breaking in without a goblin's help. You're our one chance."

"I shall... think about it," said Griphook maddeningly.

"But-" Ron started angrily; Hermione nudged him in the ribs.

"Thank you," said Harry.

The goblin bowed his great domed head in acknowledgement, and then flexed his short legs.

"I think," he said, settling himself ostentatiously upon Bill and Fleur's bed, "that the Skele-Gro has finished its work. I may be able to sleep at last. Forgive me..."

"Yeah, of course," said Harry, but before leaving the room he leaned forward and took the sword of Gryffindor from beside the goblin. Griphook did not protest, but Harry thought he saw resentment in the goblin's eyes as he closed the door upon him.

Once they were outside the door, Ron burst into an angry tirade,

"The little git! He likes keeping us hanging! He's got it in for wizards!"

"_Ron!"_ Hermione whispered, "He isn't deaf, he'll hear you!"

Annabeth sighed. "We're not going to get anymore out of him tonight." She said. "We should all get to bed, it's late." And with a hasty good night, they all went to their separate bedrooms.


	12. The Agreement

Percy lay on his bed, trying not to fall asleep. Demigod dreams would not do him any good right now. Instead, he thought about Griphook. What if he didn't cooperate? Even if they forced him to him, it would be only too easy for the goblin to mutiny against them. No, somehow, they would make him cooperate willingly. Perhaps by giving him a reward of some kind? He seemed very passionate about the 'wand carriers' thing, would he ask for a wand?

Eventually, Percy's eyes began to drift shut. Suddenly, he was standing behind Harry/Percy and Hermione, both of whom were rushing to Ron, who was lying on the ground. The trio looked about teenagers now, no more than thirteen years old. They were standing outside on a cloudless night, with the full moon shining brightly overhead.

"What did he do to him?" Hermione whispered. Ron's eyes were only half-closed, his mouth hung open; he was definitely alive, they could hear him breathing, but he didn't seem to recognize them.

"I don't know..."

Suddenly, Percy felt a disembodied feeling, and his dream changed completely. He was Harry now, seeing everything Harry was seeing, feeling everything Harry/Percy felt.

Harry/Percy looked desperately around. Black and Lupin both gone... they had no one but Snape for company, still hanging, unconscious, in midair.

"We'd better get them up to the castle and tell someone," said Harry/Percy, pushing his hair out of his eyes, trying to think straight. "Come -"

But then, from beyond the range of their vision, they heard a yelping, a whining: a dog in pain...

"Sirius," Harry/Percy muttered, staring into the darkness.

He had a moment's indecision, but there was nothing they could do for Ron at the moment, and by the sound of it, Black was in trouble -

Harry/Percy set off at a run, Hermione right behind him. The yelping seemed to be coming from the ground near the edge of the lake. They pelted toward it, and Harry/Percy, running flat out, felt the cold without realizing what it must mean -

The yelping stopped abruptly. As they reached the lakeshore, they saw why - Sirius had turned back into a man. He was crouched on all fours, his hands over his head.

'Nooo," he moaned. 'Nooo... please..."

And then Harry/Percy saw them. Dementors, at least a hundred of them, gliding in a black mass around the lake toward them. He spun around, the familiar, icy cold penetrating his insides, fog starting to obscure his vision; more were appearing out of the darkness on every side; they were encircling them...

"Hermione, think of something happy!" Harry/Percy yelled, raising his wand, blinking furiously to try and clear his vision, shaking his head to rid it of the faint screaming that had started inside it -

I'm going to live with my godfather. I'm leaving the Dursleys.

He forced himself to think of Black, and only Black, and began to chant: "Expecto patronum! Expecto patronum!"

Black gave a shudder, rolled over, and lay motionless on the ground, pale as death.

He'll be all right. I'm going to go and live with him.

"Expecto patronum! Hermione, help me! Expecto patronum!"

"Expecto -" Hermione whispered, "expecto - expecto -"

But she couldn't do it. The dementors were closing in, barely ten feet from them. They formed a solid wall around Harry/Percy and Hermione, and were getting closer...

"EXPECTO PATRONUM!" Harry/Percy yelled, trying to blot the screaming from his ears. "EXPECTO PATRONUM!"

A thin wisp of silver escaped his wand and hovered like mist before him. At the same moment, Harry/Percy felt Hermione collapse next to him. He was alone... completely alone...

"Expecto - expecto patronum -"

Harry/Percy felt his knees hit the cold grass. Fog was clouding his eyes. With a huge effort, he fought to remember - Sirius was innocent - innocent - We'll be okay - I'm going to live with him -

"Expecto patronum!" he gasped.

By the feeble light of his formless Patronus, He saw a dementor halt, very close to him. It couldn't walk through the cloud of silver mist Harry/Percy had conjured. A dead, slimy hand slid out from under the cloak. It made a gesture as though to sweep the Patronus aside.

"No - no -" Harry/Percy gasped. "He's innocent... expecto patronum -"

He could feet them watching him, hear their rattling breath like an evil wind around him. The nearest dementor seemed to be considering him. Then it raised both its rotting hands - and lowered its hood.

Where there should have been eyes, there was only thin, gray scabbed skin, stretched blankly over empty sockets. But there was a mouth... a gaping, shapeless hole, sucking the air with the sound of a death rattle.

A paralyzing terror filled Harry/Percy so that he couldn't move or speak. His Patronus flickered and died.

White fog was blinding him. He had to fight... expecto patronum ... he couldn't see... and in the distance, he heard the familiar screaming... expecto patronum... he groped in the mist for Sirius, and found his arm... they weren't going to take him...

But a pair of strong, clammy hands suddenly attached themselves around Harry/Percy's neck. They were forcing his face upward... He could feel its breath... It was going to get rid of him first... He could feel its putrid breath... His mother was screaming in his ears... She was going to be the last thing he ever heard -

"Percy! Wake up!"

Percy snapped awake. He wasn't Harry, he was Percy Jackson. _Wow Harry_ he thought to himself. _You fought a giant snake, a thousand dementors, and Voldemort in three years only_.

"Are you okay?" asked Annabeth concernedly. He sat up to see Nico, Harry, Ron and Hermione standing over him as well.

"I'm fine." He said.

"You were yelling in your sleep" said Ron, "_He's innocent…Expecto Patronum…"_

"Demigod dreams are always messed up." He said to Harry, Ron and Hermione, "most of the time their visions of things going on currently or from the past."

"I have a feeling I know what you were dreaming about." Harry muttered.

"Hey, I don't choose what I dream about!" said Percy, "If I dream about you defeating a two-faced Voldemort, kicking a snake's butt, or defending an innocent man, that's not my choice."

Harry's eyes had widened, "You saw me doing all that?!" he said. Percy shrugged.

"The Goddess Hecate is giving me these dreams." He said. "I met her in person."

"When were you going to tell us that Seaweed Brain!" said Annabeth, punching his arm lightly.

"I was going to tell you as soon as she left, but literally two seconds after that, we got captured!" he said.

Hermione's mouth was hanging wide open, "You-you _saw_ a Goddess?!" she stuttered, "You _talked_ to her?!"

"When you're a half-blood you talk to gods all the time." Said Annabeth, enjoying the priceless looks on Harry, Ron, and Hermione's faces.

"Look, I'm sorry I woke everyone up" said Percy, "But we better get back to bed now, before someone comes in and sees us talking at two o'clock in the morning." This being a fair point, everyone quickly rushed to their beds.

The next day, Percy saw Harry, Ron, and Hermione go speak to alone. When they came out, they hurriedly left the house and went out to garden. Percy followed eager to know what was going on.

"Gregorovitch had the Elder Wand a long time ago," Harry said, "I saw You-Know-Who trying to find him. When he tracked him down, he found that Gregorovitch didn't have it anymore: It was stolen from him by Grindelwald. How Grindelwald found out that Gregorovitch had it, I don't know but if Gregorovitch was stupid enough to spread the rumor, it can't have been that difficult."

"Who are Gregorovitch and Grindlewald? And what's the elder wand?" asked Percy.

"The elder wand is a wand that's quite literally a legend" said Ron, "It's said to be unbeatable."

"Gregorvitch is a wandmaker, he had the elder wand once." Said Hermione.

"And Grindlewald is a famous dark wizard." Said Harry, "He used the Elder Wand to become powerful. And at the height of his power, when Dumbledore knew he was the only one who could stop him, he dueled Grindelwald and beat him, and he took the Elder Wand."

"_Dumbledore_ had the Elder Wand?" said Ron. "But then, where is it now?"

"At Hogwarts, buried with Dumbledore." said Harry, Percy noticed he was clutching his scar and talking the way someone did right before they were about to pass out..

"But then, let's go!" said Ron urgently. "Guys, let's go and get it before he does!"

"It's too late for that," said Harry. He clutched his head harder. "He knows where it is. He's there now."

"Harry!" Ron said furiously. "How long have you known this?! Why have we been wasting time? Why did you talk to Griphook first? We could have gone…

"We can still go!" said Percy, "we'll apperate and shadow travel there today!"

"No," said Harry, and he sank to his knees in the grass. "Hermione's right. Dumbledore didn't want me to have it. He didn't want me to take it. He wanted me to get the Horcruxes."

"The unbeatable wand, Harry!" moaned Ron.

"I'm not supposed to... I'm supposed to get the Horcruxes..." Harry collapsed face down on the grass, clutching his scar.

"What happened to him?!" asked Percy, leaning down.

"He's gone into one of his bloody fits again! He needs to close that connection!" said Hermione.

"What fits?! What's happening to him?!" asked Percy.

"When the curse rebounded off Harry sixteen years ago," said Hermione, "He got that curse scar, and along with it, a connection to Voldemort's soul. He can sense Voldemort's emotions, sometimes see You-Know-Who himself."

"But its painful being connected to a soul that evil. Every time he has some insight into You-Know-who's mind, he collapses, and his scar hurts."

_Painful being connected to an evil soul_ thought Percy. He wondered if Luke was in pain when he allowed the titan lord Kronos to use his body.

Harry suddenly opened his eyes and moved his hand away from his scar.

"What did you see?" asked Ron urgently, helping him to his feet.

"You-Know-Who took the elder wand from the grave." He said flatly, looking a little shaken.

After they returned to the cottage and told Nico and Annabeth what had happened, a single question seemed to be constantly running to their minds. What if they were supposed to get the elder wand before Voldemort did? What if the only way to defeat him was to get the wand he now possessed?

Harry-

"I have reached my decision." said the Griphook the next day. He had called them all to his room to discuss the matter of breaking into Gringotts. He was sitting cross-legged in a low chair, drumming its arms with his spindly fingers.

"Though the goblins of Gringotts will consider it base treachery, I have decided to help you."

"That's great!" said Harry, relief surging through him. "Griphook, thank you, we're really-"

"-in return," said the goblin firmly, "for payment."

Slightly taken aback, Harry hesitated.

"How much do you want? I've got gold."

"Not gold," said Griphook. "I have gold."

His black eyes glittered; there were no whites to his eyes.

"I want the sword. The sword of Godric Gryffindor."

Harry's spirits plummeted.

"You can't have that," he said. "I'm sorry."

"Then," said the goblin softly, "we have a problem."

"We can give you something else," said Ron eagerly. "I'll bet the Lestranges have got loads of stuff, you can take your pick once we get into the vault."

He had said the wrong thing. Griphook flushed angrily.

"I am not a thief, boy! I am not trying to procure treasures to which I have no right!"

"The sword's ours!" said Nico.

"it is not," said the goblin.

"We're Gryffindors, and it was Godric Gryffindor's!"

Annabeth, Percy, and Nico all did a half-decent job at pretending to know who Godric Gryffandor was.

"And before it was Gryffindor's, whose was it?" demanded the goblin, sitting up straight.

"No one's," said Ron. "It was made for him, wasn't it?"

"No!" cried the goblin, bristling with anger as he pointed a long finger at Ron. "Wizarding arrogance again! That sword was Ragnuk the First's, taken from him by Godric Gryffindor! It is a masterpiece of goblinwork! It belongs with the goblins! The sword is the price of my hire, take it or leave it!"

Griphook glared at them. Harry glanced at the other, and then said, "We need to discuss this, Griphook, if that's all right. Could you give us a few minutes?"

The goblin nodded, looking sour.

Downstairs in the empty sitting room, Harry walked to the fireplace, brow furrowed, trying to think what to do. Behind him, Ron said, "He's having a laugh. We can't let him have that sword."

"Why not?' asked Percy, "We have other swords, and you never fight with it!"

"That sword has Basalisk venom in it," said Hermione, "It's one of the only substances that can destroy horcruxes.

"It is true?" Harry asked Hermione. "Was the sword stolen by Gryffindor?"

"I don't know," she said hopelessly. "Wizarding history often skates over what the wizards have done to other magical races, but there's no account that I know of that says Gryffindor stole the sword."

"Okay, who is this 'Godric Gryffandor'?" asked Annabeth.

"A very old and famous wizard, but the only thing important thing about him now is the sword belonged to him." Said Harry. _Or at least, we thought it belonged to him_ he added inwardly.  
"It'll be one of those goblin stories," said Ron, "about how the wizards are always trying to get one over on them. I suppose we should think ourselves lucky he hasn't asked for one of our wands."

"Goblins have got good reason to dislike wizards, Ron." said Hermione. "They've been treated brutally in the past."

"Goblins aren't exactly fluffy little bunnies, though, are they?" said Ron. "They've killed plenty of us. They've fought dirty too."

"But arguing with Griphook about whose race is most underhanded and violent isn't going to make him more likely to help us, is it?" said Nico.

"Okay," said Ron, and Harry turned back to face him, "how's this? We tell Griphook we need the sword until we get inside the ¨C and then he can have it. There's a fake in these, isn't there? We switch them, and give him the fake."

"Ron, he'd know the difference better than we would!" said Hermione. "He's the only one who realized there had been a swap!"

"Yeah, but we could scaper before he realizes-"

He quailed beneath the look Hermione was giving him.

"That," she said quietly, "is _despicable_. Ask for his help, and then double-cross him? And you wonder why goblins don't like wizards, Ron?"

Ron's ears had turned red.

"All right, all right! It was the only thing I could think of! What's your solution, then?"

"We need to offer him something else, something just as valuable."

"Brilliant, I'll go and get one of our ancient goblin-made swords and you can gift wrap it."

Silence fell between them again. Harry was sure that the goblin would accept nothing but the sword, even if they had something as valuable to offer him. Yet the sword was their one, indispensable weapon against the Horcruxes.

He closed his eyes for a moment or two and listened to the rush of the sea. The idea that Gryffindor might have stolen the sword was unpleasant to him: He had always been proud to be a Gryffindor; Gryffindor had been the champion of Muggle-borns, the wizard who had clashed with the pureblood-loving Slytherin...

"Maybe he's lying," Harry said, opening his eyes again. "Griphook. Maybe Gryffindor didn't take the sword. How do we know the goblin version of history's right?"

"Does it make a difference?" asked Annabeth, "Right now we just need to find a way to keep the sword."

"Changes how I feel about it," said Harry. He took a deep breath. "We'll tell him he can have the sword after he's helped us get into that vault, but we'll be careful to avoid telling him exactly when he can have it."

A grin spread slowly across Ron's face. Hermione, however, looked alarmed.

"Harry, we can't!"

"That's just plain dirty!" said Annabeth.

"He can have it," Harry went on, "after we've used it on all of the Horcruxes. I'll make sure he gets it then. I'll keep my word."

"But that could be years!" said Hermione.

"I know that, but he needn't. I won't be lying... really. What other choice do we have?"

There was shame in Harry's eyes, but he tried not to let it show.

"I don't like it," said Hermione.

"Nor do I, much," Harry admitted.

"Well, I think it's genius," said Ron, standing up again. "Let's go and tell him."

Back in the smallest bedroom, Harry made the offer, careful to phrase it so as not to give any definite time for the handover of the sword. Hermione frowned at the floor while he was speaking; he felt irritated at her, afraid that she might give the game away. However, Griphook had eyes for nobody but Harry.

"I have your word, Harry Potter, that you will give me the sword of Gryffindor if I help you?"

"Yes," said Harry.

"Then shake," said the goblin, holding out his hand.

Harry took it and shook. He wondered whether those black eyes saw any misgivings in his own. Then Griphook relinquished him, clapped his hands together, and said, "So. We begin!"


	13. Goblins and Godfathers

They began to sit in the goblin's room for hours at a time, constantly looking over maps of chambers and passages of the great bank. There were so many twists and turns in the hundreds of tunnels, Percy couldn't help but be reminded of the labyrinth. As promised, there were many obstacles and sells to defend the treasures, as well as depletion of one of Harry, Ron, and Hermione's potions that could make them look like other people.

"We don't all need to have some" said Harry, "It will look strange if a whole group of people went to the Lestrange's vault."

The more time they spent together, the more Percy grew to dislike the dislike the goblin. Griphook was unexpectedly bloodthirsty, laughed at the idea of pain in lesser creatures and seemed to relish the possibility that they might have to hurt other wizards to reach the Lestrange's vault. He could tell that his distaste was everyone else in the group, but they did not discuss it. They needed Griphook.

Even after his legs had mended, Griphook continued to request trays of food in his room, like the still-frail Ollivander. The goblin ate only grudgingly with the rest of them after Bill put his foot down and forced him to leave (following an angry outburst from Fleur) saying the arrangement could not continue. Thereafter Griphook joined them at the overcrowded table, although he refused to eat the same food, insisting, instead, on lumps of raw meat, roots, and various fungi.

Percy couldn't tell Harry felt responsible for the trouble Griphook was causing.

""I'm sorry," he told Fleur, one blustery April evening as he helped her prepare dinner."I never meant you to have to deal with all of this."

She had just set some knives to work, chipping up steaks for Griphook and Bill, who had preferred his meat bloody ever since he had been attacked by Greyback. While the knives sliced behind her, her somewhat irritable expression softened.

"'Arry, you saved my sister's life, I do not forget."

So Harry had saved Fleur's sister's life, what else had he done.

He had had another dream of Harry last night. He was in graveyard with another boy. Percy had witnessed with Harry the murder of that boy and return of Voldemort. Harry had dueled him and then escaped with the boy's body and a huge trophy.

"We'll be off your hands soon." Said Percy. "We'll be leaving with Griphook in a few weeks."

"But, what do you mean?" she said, frowning at him, her wand pointing at the casserole dish now suspended in midair. "Of course you must not leave; you are safe 'ere!"

Harry sighed and Percy could tell many people had said those exact words to him. That night, Mr. Ollivander left for his home, and agreed to take a goblin made tiara that Fleur had borrowed back to it's owner.

The other inhabitants of the Shell Cottage did not fail to notice that Griphook and the six of them were plotting something together. Eventually Bill took them all to the kitchen for a private word.

"You all are planning something with Griphook." He said when no one else could here.

They nodded in sync.

"I know goblins," said Bill. "I've worked for Gringotts ever since I left Hogwarts. As far as there can be friendship between wizards and goblins, I have goblin friends…or, at least, goblins I know well, and like." Bill hesitated.

"What do you want from Griphook, and what have you promised him in return?"

"We can't tell you that," said Nico.

"Sorry, Bill." Said Ron

The kitchen door opened behind them; Fleur was trying to bring through more empty goblets.

"Wait," Bill told her, "Just a moment."

She backed out and he closed the door again.

"Then I have to say this," Bill went on. "If you have struck any kind of bargain with Griphook, and most particularly if that bargain involves treasure, you must be exceptionally careful. Goblin notions of ownership, payment, and repayment are not the same as human ones."

Percy felt a slight squirm of discomfort, as though a small snake had stirred inside him.

"What do you mean?" he asked.

"We are talking about a different breed of being," said Bill. "Dealings between wizards and goblins have been fraught for centuries. But you'll know all that from History of Magic." (Percy, Annabeth, and Nico did their best to look like they knew their Magic History)

"There has been fault on both sides, I would never claim that wizards have been innocent." Continued Bill "However, there is a belief among some goblins, and those at Gringotts are perhaps most prone to it, that wizards cannot be trusted in matters of gold and treasure, that they have no respect for goblin ownership."

"I respect -" Harry began, but Bill shook his head.

"You don't understand, Harry, nobody could understand unless they have lived with goblins. To a goblin, the rightful and true master of any object is the maker, not the buyer."

"Well that's just silly." Said Annabeth. "Once you buy something, it's yours. The maker made an agreement let you keep it in return for money."

Bill shook his head. "They would consider it rented by the one who had paid the money. They have, however, great difficulty with the idea of goblin-made objects passing from wizard to wizard. You saw Griphook's face when the tiara passed under his eyes. He disapproves. I believe he thinks, as do the fiercest of his kind, that it ought to have been returned to the goblins once the original purchaser died. They consider our habit of keeping goblin-made objects, passing them from wizard to wizard without further payment, little more than theft."

Percy had an ominous feeling now; he wondered whether Bill guessed more than he was letting on.

"All I am saying," said Bill, setting his hand on the door back into the sitting room, "is to be very careful what you promise goblins. It would be less dangerous to break into Gringotts than to renege on a promise to a goblin."

Percy sighed. They were doing the two most dangerous things in the wizarding world.

"Right," said Harry as Bill opened the door, "yeah. Thanks. We'll bear that in mind."

They all headed back to the sitting room. It was a stormy night outside, but in the cottage, everything was calm.

Harry-

There was a bang on the front door. Everyone's head turned toward it. Fleur came running out of the kitchen, looking frightened; Bill jumped to his feed, his wand pointing at the door; Harry, Ron, and Hermione did the same. Silently Griphook slipped beneath the table, out of sight.

"Who is it?" Bill called.

"It is I, Remus John Lupin!" called a voice over the howling wind. Harry experienced a thrill of fear; what had happened? "I am a werewolf, married to Nymphadora Tonks, and you, the Secret-Keeper of Shell Cottage, told me the address and bade me come in an emergency!"

"Lupin," muttered Bill, and he ran to the door and wrenched it open.

Lupin fell over the threshold. He was white-faced, wrapped in a traveling cloak, his graying hair windswept. He straightened up, looked around the room, making sure of who was there, then cried aloud, "It's a boy! We've named him Ted, after Dora's father!"

Hermione shrieked.

"Wha-'? Tonks -Tonks has had the baby?"

"Yes, yes, she's had the baby!" shouted Lupin. All around the table came cries of delight, sighs of relief: Hermione and Fleur both squealed, "Congratulations!" and Ron said, "Blimey, a baby!" as if he had never heard of such a thing before.

Percy, Annabeth and Nico smiled. They didn't know this Lupin, but he seemed to be a nice guy.

"Yes, yes, a boy," said Lupin again, who seemed dazed by his own happiness. He strode around the table and hugged Harry; the scene in the basement of Grimmauld Place might never have happened. Seeing the three strangers didn't even dampen his spirits, he simply went up to them and shook their hands energetically.

"Remus Lupin." He introduced himself to Percy, Annabeth and Nico

"You'll be godfather?" he said as he turned Harry.

"M-me?" stammered Harry.

"You, yes, of course ¨Dora quite agrees, no one better."

"I-yeah. Blimey …"

Harry felt overwhelmed, astonished, delighted; now Bill was hurrying to fetch wine, and Fleur was persuading Lupin to join them for a drink.

"I can't stay long, I must get back," said Lupin, beaming around at them all: He looked years younger than Harry had ever seen him. "Thank you, thank you, Bill"

Bill had soon filled all of their goblets, they stood and raised them high in a toast.

"To Teddy Remus Lupin," said Lupin, "a great wizard in the making!"

"'Oo does 'e look like?" Fleur inquired.

"I think he looks like Dora, but she thinks he is like me. Not much hair. It looked black when he was born, but I swear it's turned ginger in the hour since. Probably blond by the time I get back. Andromeda says Tonks's hair started changing color the day that she was born." He drained his goblet. "Oh, go on then, just one more," he added, beaming, as Bill made to fill it again.

The wind buffeted the little cottage and the fire leapt and crackled, and Bill was soon opening another bottle of wine. Lupin's news seemed to have taken them out of themselves, removed them for a while from their state of siege: Tidings of new life were exhilarating. Only the goblin seemed untouched by the suddenly festive atmosphere, and after a while he slunk back to the bedroom he now occupied alone. Harry thought he was the only one who had noticed this, until he saw Bill's eyes following the goblin up the stairs.

"No... no... I really must get back," said Lupin at last, declining yet another goblet of wine. He got to his feet and pulled his traveling cloak back around himself.

"Good-bye, good-bye ¨C I'll try and bring some pictures in a few day's time ¨C they'll all be so glad to know that I've seen you ¨C"

He fastened his cloak and made his farewells, hugging the women and grasping hands with the men, then, still beaming, returned into the wild night.

"Godfather, Harry!" said Bill as they walked into the kitchen together, helping clear the table. "A real honor! Congratulations!"

"Who was that?" Annabeth asked, but she was smiling. Hermione told her a bit about Lupin's back story then returned to the celebration.

Harry walked over to Percy.

"Congratulations, Mr. Godfather." Said Percy.

"Thanks." Said Harry. He looked at the smiling faces around him and Percy voiced his thoughts.

"None of these people have to worry about breaking into Gringotts tomorrow." Percy sighed. Harry shivered with nervousness as he remembered tomorrow would be the day they put their plan into action.


	14. Gringotts

Their plans were made, their preparations complete; in the smallest bedroom a single long, coarse black hair (plucked from the sweater Hermione had been wearing at Malfoy Manor) lay curled in a small glass phial on the mantelpiece.

"And you'll be using her actual wand," said Harry, nodding toward the walnut wand, "so I reckon you'll be pretty convincing."

Hermione looked frightened that the wand might sting or bit her as she picked it up.

"I hate that thing," she said in a low voice. "I really hate it. It feels all wrong; it doesn't work properly for me... It's like a bit of her."

As part of the plan, Hermione would be turning into Bellatrix Lestrange using a potion. The thought of Hermione's mind in another body gave Percy the creeps.

"It'll probably help you get in character, though," said Annabeth.

" Yeah, think what that wand's done!"

"But that's my point!" said Hermione. "This is the wand that tortured Neville's mum and dad to insanity. And tortured who knows how many other people? This is the wand that killed Sirius!" Percy didn't know who Neville was, but if his parents had been tortured, he already felt sorry for him.

"I miss my wand," Hermione said miserably. "I wish Mr. Ollivander could have made me another one too."

Mr. Ollivander had sent Luna a new wand that morning. She was out on the back lawn at that moment, testing its capabilities in the late afternoon sun. Dean, who had lost his wand to his captors, was watching rather gloomily.

Percy felt his pocket and was glad his wepon couldn't be taken or broken as easily as a piece of wood, and that it would always return to his pocket no matter what.

The door of the bedroom opened and Griphook entered. Harry reached for the hilt of the sword and drew it close to him. The goblin noticed.

Seeking to gloss over the sticky moment, Hermione said, "We've just been checking the last-minute stuff, Griphook. We've told Bill and Fleur we're leaving tomorrow, and we've told them not to get up to see us off."

They had been firm on this point, because Hermione would need to transform in Bellatrix before they left, and the less that Bill and Fleur knew or suspected about what they were about to do, the better. They had also explained that they would not be returning. As they had lost their old tent on the night that the Snatcher's caught them, Bill had lent them another one. It was now packed inside the beaded bag, which, Percy was impressed to learn, Hermione had protected from the Snatchers by the simple expedient of stuffing it down her sock.

Though he would miss Bill, Fleur, Luna, and Dean, Percy would not miss leaving the confinement of shell cottage. A quiet and protected life simply didn't suite him, and he was tired of trying to make sure that they were not overheard, tired of being shut in the tiny, dark bedroom. Most of all, he longed to be rid of Griphook.

However, precisely how and when they were to part from the goblin without handing over Gryffindor's sword remained a question to which had no answer. It had been impossible to decide how they were going to do it, because the goblin rarely left the six of them alone together for more than five minutes at a time.

"He could give my mother lessons," growled Ron, as the goblin's long fingers kept appearing around the edges of doors. Ron had a very motherly, yet overprotective mom.

With Bill's warning in mind, the six could not help suspecting that Griphook was on the watch for possible skullduggery. Hermione and Annabeth disapproved so heartily of the planned double-cross that Harry had given up attempting to pick her brains on how best to do it.

Ron, on the rare occasions that they had been able to snatch a few Griphook-free moments, had come up with nothing better than "We'll just have to wing it, mate." Nico suggested they shadow travel away before Griphook could get the sword, but there was the possibility of Griphook either following them or alerting the authorities that the one who had went to the vault wasnot really Bellatrix.

Harry slept badly that night. Lying away in the early hours, he thought back to the way he had felt the night before they had infiltrated the Ministry of Magic and remembered a determination, almost an excitement. Now he was experiencing jolts of anxiety nagging doubts: He could not shake off the fear that it was all going to go wrong. He kept telling himself that their plan was good, that Griphook knew what they were facing, that they were well-prepared for all the difficulties they were likely to encounter, yet still he felt uneasy. He wondered if Percy, who was sleeping across from him, was dreaming about his past, and how much he knew about Harry. He doubted Nico was even asleep.

It was a relief when six o-clock arrived and they could slip out of his sleeping bag, dress in the semidarkness, then creep out into the garden, where they were to meet Hermione, Annabeth and Griphook. The dawn was chilly, but there was little wind now that it was May. Harry looked up at the stars still glimmering palely in the dark sky and listened to the sea washing backward and forward against the cliff: He was going to miss the sound, but obviusley not as much as Percy would. As soon as Percy was outside, he went towards the cliff and gazed at the sea.

Then the sound of a door opening made him look around.

Bellatrix Lestrange was striding across the lawn toward them, accompanied by Griphook. As she walked, she was tucking the small, beaded bag into the inside pocket of another set of the old robes they had taken from Grimmauld Place.

Though Harry knew perfectly well that it was really Hermione, he could not suppress a shiver of loathing. When Percy saw her, he jumped up and grabbed his sword-pen. He quickly put it back in his pocket remembering it was actually Hermione.

She was taller than he was, her long black hair rippling down her back, her heavily lidded eyes disdainful as they rested upon him; but then she spoke, and he heard Hermione through Bellatrix's low voice.

"She tasted disgusting, worse than Gurdyroots! Okay, Ron, come here so I can do you..."

"Right, but remember, I don't like the beard too long"

"Oh, for heaven's sake, this isn't about looking handsome"

"It's not that, it gets in the way! But I liked my nose a bit shorter, try and do it the way you did last time."

Hermione sighed and set to work, muttering under her breath as she transformed various aspects of Ron's appearance. He was to be given a completely fake identity, and they were trusting to the malevolent aura cast by Bellatrix to protect him. Meanwhile Harry, Griphook, Annabeth and Percy were to be concealed under the Invisibility Cloak. Nico would hide in the shadows and follow them using shadow travel.

"There," said Hermione, "how does he look, Harry?"

It was possible to discern Ron under his disguise, but only, Harry thought because he knew him so well. Ron's hair was now long and wavy; he had a thick brown beard and mustache, no freckles, a short, broad nose, and heavy eyebrows. Percy seemed to wonder why they bothered with the potion if they could change their appearance like that.

"Well, he's not my type, but he'll do," said Harry. "Shall we go, then?"

All three of them glanced back at Shell Cottage, lying dark and silent under the fading stars, then turned and began to walk toward the point, just beyond the boundary wall, where the Fidelius Charm, a charm that kept the house hidden, stopped working and they would be able to Disapparate. Once past the gate, Griphook spoke.

"I should climb up now, Harry Potter, I think?"

Harry bent down and the goblin clambered onto his back, his hands linked on front of Harry's throat. He was not heavy, but Harry disliked the feeling of the goblin and the surprising strength with which he clung on. Hermione pulled the Invisibility Cloak out of the beaded bag and threw it over them both as well as Percy and Annabeth. It was a very tight fit, and if someone were to look carefully, they may see for a half a second, a pair of disembodied ankles, but there was nothing they could do about that.

"It's not perfect," said Hermione standing back to look at them, "But it'll do. We have to get going."

Harry turned on the spot, with Griphook on his shoulders and Percy and Annabeth clutching his arms. He concentrated with all his might on the Leaky Cauldron, the inn that was the entrance to Diagon Alley. The goblin clung even tighter as they moved into the compressing darkness, and seconds later Harry's feet found pavement and he opened his eyes on Charing Cross Road. Muggles bustled past wearing the hangdog expressions of early morning, quite unconscious of the little inn's existence.

The bar of the Leaky Cauldron was nearly deserted. Percy and Annabeth looked around, unimpressed by the un-extraordinary entrance.

"Forgive me, but I was expecting something a bit more…magical." Whispered Annabeth under the cloak.

Ton, the stooped and toothless landlord, was polishing glasses behind the bar counter; a couple of warlocks having a muttered conversation in the far corner glanced at Hermione and drew back into the shadows.

"Madam Lestrange," murmured Tom, and as Hermione paused he inclined his head subserviently.

"Good morning," said Hermione, and as Harry crept past, still carrying Griphook piggyback under the Cloak, he saw Tom look surprised.

"Too polite," Harry whispered in Hermione's ear as they passed out of the Inn into the tiny backyard. "You need to treat people like they're scum!"

"Okay, okay!"

Hermione drew out Bellatrix's wand and rapped a brick in the nondescript wall in front of them. Percy's eyes widened as the bricks began to whirl and spin: A hole appeared in the middle of them, which grew wider and wider, finally forming an archway onto the narrow cobbled street that was Diagon Alley.

It was quiet, barely time for the shops to open, and there were hardly and shoppers abroad. The crooked, cobbled street was much altered now from the bustling place Harry had visited before his first team at Hogwarts so many years before. More shops than ever were boarded up, though several new establishments dedicated to the Dark Arts had been created since his last visit. Harry's own face glared down at him from posters plastered over many windows, always captioned with the words

WANTED: UNDESIRABLE NUMBER ONE.

A number of ragged people sat huddled in doorways. He heard them moaning to the few passersby, pleading for gold, insisting that they were really wizards. One man had a bloody bandage over his eye.

"Is it always this depressing here?" whispered Percy, looking around the dismal street. He didn't see Nico, but he knew there were plenty of dark shadows here for him to hide in.

"I've never seen the place like this." Harry whispered back, "But ever since You-Know-Who returned the wizarding community really went to the dark."

As they set off along the street, the beggars glimpsed Hermione and they seemed to melt away before her, drawing hoods over their faces and fleeing as fast as they could. Hermione looked after them curiously, until the man with the bloodied bandage came staggering right across her path.

"My children," he bellowed, pointing at her. His voice was cracked, high-pitched, he sounded distraught. "Where are my children? What has he done with them? You know, you know!"

"I-I really-" stammered Hermione.

The man lunged at her, reaching for her throat. Then, with a bang and a burst of red light he was thrown backward onto the ground, unconscious. Ron stood there, his wand still outstretched and a look of shock visible behind his beard. Faces appeared at the windows on either side of the street, while a little knot of prosperous-looking passerby gathered their robes about them and broke into gentle trots, keen to vacate the scene.

"Don't stutter like that again." Ron whispered to Hermione.

Their entrance into Diagon Alley could hardly have been more conspicuous. For a moment Harry wondered whether it might not be better to leave now and try to think of a different plan. Before they could move or consult one another, however, they heard a cry from behind them.

"Why, Madam Lestrange!"

Harry whirled around and Griphook tightened his hold around Harry's neck: A tall, think wizard with a crown of bushy gray hair and a long, sharp nose was striding toward them.

"It's Travers," hissed the goblin into Harry's ear, but at that moment Harry could not think who Travers was. Hermione had drawn herself up to full height. And what do you want?" she said in the harshest voice she could muster.

Travers stopped in his tracks, clearly affronted. 

"He's another Death Eater!" breathed Griphook, and Annabeth leaned sideways to repeat the information into Hermione's ear.

"I merely sought to greet you," said Travers coolly, "but if my presence is not welcome..."

"No, no, not at all, Travers," said Hermione quickly, trying to cover up her mistake. "How are you?"

"Well, I confess I am surprised to see you out and about, Bellatrix."

"Really? Why?" asked Hermione.

"Well," Travers coughed, "I heard that the Inhabitants of Malfoy Manor were confined to the house, after the... ah... escape."

Harry willed Hermione to keep her head and he could hear Annabeth whispering to her what to say next. If this was true, and Bellatrix was not supposed to be out in public.

"The Dark Lord forgives those who have served him most faithfully in the past," said Hermione in a magnificent imitation of Bellatrix's most contemptuous manner. "Perhaps your credit is not as good with him as mine is, Travers."

Though the Death Eater looked offended, he also seemed less suspicious. Harry silently congratulated her. Travers glanced down at the man Ron had just Stunned.

"How did it offend you?"

"It does not matter, it will not do so again," said Hermione coolly.

"Some of these wandless can be troublesome," said Travers. "While they do nothing but beg I have no objection, but one of them actually asked me to plead her case in the Ministry last week. 'I'm a witch, sir, I'm a witch, let me prove it to you!" he said in a squeaky impersonation. Percy had balled his fists and was looking at Travers with great dislike.

"As if I was going to give her my wand, but whose wand," said Travers curiously, "are you using at the moment, Bellatrix? I heard that your own was…"

"I have my wand here," said Hermione coldly, holding up Bellatrix's wand. "I don't know what rumors you have been listening to, Travers, but you seem sadly misinformed."

Travers seemed a little taken aback at that, and he turned instead to Ron.

"Who is your friend? I do not recognize him."

"This is Dragomir Despard," said Hermione; they had decided that a fictional foreigner was the safest cover for Ron to assume. "He speaks very little English, but he is in sympathy with the Dark Lord's aims. He has traveled here from Transylvania to see our new regime."

"Indeed? How do you do, Dragomir?"

"'Ow you?" said Ron, holding out his hand.

Travers extended two fingers and shook Ron's hand as though frightened of dirtying himself.

"So what brings you and your, ah, sympathetic friend to Diagon Alley this early?" asked Travers.

"I need to visit Gringotts," said Hermione.

"Alas, I also," said Travers. "Gold, filthy gold! We cannot live without it, yet I confess I deplore the necessity of consorting with our long-fingered friends."

Harry felt Griphook's clasped hands tighten momentarily around his neck. Annabeth pried the goblins fingers apart so they were no longer hurting Harry.

"Shall we?" said Travers, gesturing Hermione forward.

Hermione had no choice but to fall into step beside him and head along the crooked, cobbled street toward the place where the snowy-white Gringotts stood towering over the other little shops. Ron sloped along beside them, and Harry and Griphook followed. He looked at a dark ally and saw Nico disappear from in and rematerialize farther ahead.

A watchful Death Eater was the very last thing they needed, and the worst of it was, with Travers matching at what he believed to be Bellatrix's side, there was no means for Harry to communicate with Hermione or Ron. All too soon they arrived at the foot of the marble steps leading up to the great bronze doors. As Griphook had already warned them, the liveried goblins who usually flanked the entrance had been replaced by two wizards, both of whom were clutching long thin golden rods.

"Ah, Probity Probes," signed Travers theatrically, "so crude, but so effective!"

And he set off up the steps, nodding left and right to the wizards, who raised the golden rods and passed them up and down his body. The Probes, Harry knew, detected spells of concealment and hidden magical objects. Knowing that he had only seconds, Harry pointed Draco's wand at each of the guards in turn and murmured, "Confundo" twice. Unnoticed by Travers, who was looking through the bronze doors at the inner hall, each of the guards gave a little start as the spells hit them.

Hermione's long black hair rippled behind her as she climbed the steps.

"One moment, madam," said the guard, raising his Probe.

"But you've just done that!" said Hermione in Bellatrix's commanding, arrogant voice. Travers looked around, eyebrows raised. The guard was confused. He stared down at the thin golden Probe and then at his companion, who said in a slightly dazed voice, "Yeah, you've just checked them, Marius."

Hermione swept forward. Ron by her side, Harry and Griphook trotting invisibly behind them. Harry glanced back as they crossed the threshold. The wizards were both scratching their heads. He heard Annabeth breathe a sigh of relief and, when he squinted hard, saw Nico materialize in a shadowy corner. Harry shook his head in amazement at how well Nico could stay hidden.

They walked into the bank and walked up to the long counter was manned by goblins sitting on high stools serving the first customers of the day. Hermione, Ron, and Travers headed toward an old goblin who was examining a thick gold coin through an eyeglass. Hermione allowed Travers to step ahead of her on the pretext of explaining features of the hall to Ron.

The goblin tossed the coin he was holding aside, said to nobody in particular, "Leprechaun," and then greeted Travers, who passed over a tiny golden key, which was examined and given back to him.

Hermione stepped forward.

"Madam Lestrange!" said the goblin, evidently startled. "Dear me! How-how may I help you today?" It was clear he was terrified of Hermione.

"I wish to enter my vault," said Hermione.

The old goblin seemed to recoil a little. Harry glanced around. Not only was Travers hanging back, watching, but several other goblins had looked up from their work to stare at Hermione, as if they knew she wasn't Bellatrix.

"You have... identification?" asked the goblin.

"Identification? I-I have never been asked for identification before!" said Hermione.

"They know!" whispered Griphook in Harry's ear, "They must have been warned there might be an imposter!"

"Your wand will do, madam," said the goblin. He held out a slightly trembling hand, and in a dreadful blast of realization Harry knew that the goblins of Gringotts were aware that Bellatrix's wand had been stolen.

"Act now, act now," whispered Griphook in Harry's ear, "the Imperious Curse!" Harry raised the hawthorn wand beneath the cloak, pointed it at the old goblin, and whispered, for the first time in his life, "Imperio!"A curious sensation shot down Harry's arm, a feeling of tingling, warmth that seemed to flow from his mind, down the sinews and veins connecting him to the wand and the curse it had just cast. The goblin took Bellatrix's wand, examined it closely, and then said, "Ah, you have had a new wand made, Madam Lestrange!"

"What?" said Hermione, "No, no, that's mine¨-"

"A new wand?" said Travers, approaching the counter again; still the goblins all around were watching. "But how could you have done, which wandmaker did you use?"

Harry acted without thinking. Pointing his wand at Travers, he muttered, "Imperio!" once more.

"Oh yes, I see," said Travers, looking down at Bellatrix's wand, "yes, very handsome. and is it working well? I always think wands require a little breaking in, don't you?"

Hermione looked utterly bewildered, but to Harry's enormous relief she accepted the bizarre turn of events without comment.

"What did you do to them?" Percy whispered.

"The Imperius Curse" Harry whispered back, "I'll explain later."

The old goblin behind the counter clapped his hands and a younger goblin approached.

"I shall need the Clankers," he told the goblin, who dashed away and returned a moment later with a leather bag that seemed to be full of jangling metal, which he handed to his senior. "Good, good! Now, if you will follow me, Madam Lestrange," said the old goblin, hopping down off his stool and vanishing from sight. "I shall take you to your vault."

He appeared around the end of the counter, jogging happily toward them, the contents of the leather bag still jingling. Travers was now standing quite still with his mouth hanging wide open. Ron was drawing attention to this odd phenomenon by regarding Travers with confusion.

"Wait, Bogrod!"Another goblin came scurrying around the counter.

"We have instructions," he said with a bow to Hermione. "Forgive me, Madam, but there have been special orders regarding the vault of Lestrange."

He whispered urgently in Bogrod's ear, but the Imperiused goblin shook him off.

"I am aware of the instructions, Madam Lestrange wishes to visit her vault ... Very old family ... old clients ... This way, please ..."

And, still clanking, he hurried toward one of the many doors leading off the hall. Harry looked back at Travers , who was still rooted to the spot looking abnormally vacant, and made his decision. With a flick of his wand he made Travers come with them, walking meekly in their wake as they reached the door and passed into the rough stone passageway beyond, which was lit with flaming torches.

"We're in trouble; they suspect," said Harry as the door slammed behind them and he pulled off the Invisibility Cloak. Griphook jumped down from his shoulders: neither Travers nor Bogrod showed the slightest surprise at the sudden appearance of Harry, Percy, Annabeth and Griphook in their midst. "They're Imperiused," he added, in response to Hermione and Ron's confused queries about Travers and Bogrod, who were both now standing there looking blank. "I don't think I did it strongly enough, I don't know ..." And another memory darted through his mind, of the real Bellatrix Lestrange shrieking at him when he had first tried to use an Unforgivable Curse: "You need to mean them, Potter!"

Nico materialized next to them. "What did you do back there?" he asked, looking curiously at Bogrod and Travers.

"What do we do?" asked Ron. "Shall we get out now, while we can?"

"If we can," said Hermione, looking back toward the door into the main hall, beyond which who knew what was happening.

"We've got this far, I say we go on," said Harry.

"Good!" said Griphook. "So, we need Bogrod to control the cart; I no long have the authority. But there will not be room for the wizard."

Harry pointed his wand at Travers.

"Imperio!"

The wizard turned and set off along the dark track at a smart pace.

"What are you making him do?"

"Hide," said Harry as he pointed his wand at Bogrod, who whistled to summon a little cart that came trundling along the tracks toward them out of the darkness.

"There won't be room for _any_ of the wizards." Griphook repeated. "Three of you will not not be able to fit on the cart."

"I'll shadow travel alongside you" said Nico. "And I can take Percy and Annabeth too."

Harry was sure he could hear shouting behind them in the main hall as he clambered into the cart, Bogrod in front of Griphook, Harry, Ron, and Hermione crammed together in the back.

"Just follow the cart, and don't get lost" said Griphook to Nico.

With a jerk the cart moved off, gathering speed: They hurried past Travers, who was wriggling into a crack in the wall, then the cart began twisting and turning through the labyrinthine passages, sloping downward all the time. Harry could not hear anything over the rattling of the cart on the tracks: His hair flew behind him as they swerved between stalactites, flying ever deeper into the earth, but he kept glancing back. They might as well have left enormous footprints behind them; the more he thought about it, the more foolish it seemed to have disguised Hermione as Bellatrix, to have brought along Bellatrix's wand, when the Death Eaters knew who had stolen it. He couldn't see Nico, Annabeth, or Percy, they were going too fast. Harry just hoped they didn't get lost

There were a deeper than Harry had ever penetrated within Gringotts; they took a hairpin bend at speed and saw ahead of them, with seconds to spare, a waterfall pounding over the track. Harry heard Griphook shout, "No! The thieves downfall will wash away enchantments!"

"PERCY!" Harry shouted. "MOVE THE WATER!" He flinched as the cart approached the wet part of the tracks, but not a single drop of water hit him. He cought o glimps of the water suspended in midair, but before he could get a closer look they had zoomed too far away.

And they turned a corner and saw the thing for which Harry had been prepared, but which still brought all of them took his breath away as the cart lurched to a stop.

A gigantic dragon was tethered to the ground in front of them, barring access to four or five of the deepest vaults in the place. The beast's scales had turned pale and flaky during its long incarceration under the ground, its eyes were milkily pink; both rear legs bore heavy cuffs from which chains led to enormous pegs driven deep into the rocky floor. Its great spiked wings, folded close to its body, would have filled the chamber if it spread them, and when it turned its ugly head toward them, it roared with a noise that made the rock tremble.

Nico materialized with Percy and Annabeth, and then collapsed to the ground from exhaustion. 'That cart travels fast…could barely keep up…" he panted. Percy and Annabeth were starinf in shocked silence at the dragon.

"It is partially blind," panted Griphook, "but even more savage for that. However, we have the means to control it. It has learned what to expect when the Clankers come. Give them to me."

Ron passed the bag to Griphook, and the goblin pulled out a number of small metal instruments that when shaken made a long ringing noise like miniature hammers on anvils. Griphook handed them out: Bogrod accepted his meekly.

"You know what to do," Griphook told the six of them. "It will expect pain when it hears the noise. It will retreat, and Bogrod must place his palm upon the door of the vault."

They advanced towards the dragon, shaking the Clankers, and the noise echoed off the rocky walls, grossly magnified, so that the inside of Harry's skull seemed to vibrate with the den. The dragon let out another hoarse roar, then retreated. Harry could see it trembling, and as they drew nearer he saw the scars made by vicious slashes across its face, and guess that it had been taught to fear hot swords when it heard the sound of the Clankers. He swore he could have heard Annabeth mutter 'Poor thing.'

"Make him press his hand to the door!" Griphook urged Harry, who turned his wand again upon Bogrod. The old goblin obeyed, pressing his palm to the wood, and the door of the vault melted away to reveal a cavelike opening crammed from floor to ceiling with golden coins and goblets, silver armor, the skins of strange creatures . They walked in and door reappeared, sealing them inside the vault, and they were plunged into total darkness.

"No matter, Bogrod will be able to release us!" said Griphook as Ron gave a shout of surprise. "Light your wands, can't you? And hurry, we have little time!"

"Lumos!"

Harry shone his lit wand around the vault: Its beam fell upon glittering jewels; he saw the fake sword of Gryffindor lying on a high shelf amongst a jumble of chains. Ron and Hermione had lit their wands too, and were now examining the piles of objects surrounding them.

"Don't bother." Said Nico, "It's that one." He pointed to a little golden cup sparkled in a three-way spotlight: the cup that had belonged to Helga Hufflepuff, which had passed into the possession of Hepzibah Smith, from whom it had been stolen by Tom Riddle.

"Good work Nic- Hermione, whats wrong!"

Hermione had screamed in pain, and Harry turned his wand on her in time to see a jeweled goblet tumbling from her grip. But as it fell, it split, became a shower of goblets, so that a second later, with a great clatter, the floor was covered in identical cups rolling in every direction, the original impossible to discern amongst them.

"It burned me!" moaned Hermione, sucking her blistered fingers.

"They have added Germino and Flagrante Curses!" said Griphook.

"Everything you touch will burn and multiply, but the copies are worthless ¨C and if you continue to handle the treasure, you will eventually be crushed to death by the weight of expanding gold!"

"Okay, don't touch anything!" said Harry desperately, but even as he said it, Ron accidentally nudged one of the fallen goblets with his foot, and twenty more exploded into being while Ron hopped on the spot, part of his shoe burned away by contact with the hot metal.

"Stand still, don't move!" said Hermione, clutching at Ron.

"And how the hell are we going to get to the cup up there without touching anything?" asked Ron.

"Accio Cup!" cried Hermione, who had evidently forgotten in her desperation what Griphook had told them during their planning sessions.

"No use, no use!" snarled the goblin.

"Then what do we do?" said Harry, glaring at the goblin. Concentrating, Nico held out his hand, calling the Horcrux. The cup twitched. Harry could hear people on the other side of the door, and the multiplying objects burning them were now waist deep.

"Hurry Nico! Said Annabeth. The cup had tumbled off the shelf and was now moving slowly towards Nico.

The clanking on the other side of the door was growing deafening -it was too late. The door opened revealing at least fifty wizards and goblins.

"There!" Nico held the cup triumphantly in his hand. It was burning his hand and multiplying, but Nico didn't relinquish it.

Hardly aware of the pain from the burns covering his body, and still borne along the swell of replicating treasure, Nico shoved the cup into his pocket. Harry, who had dropped the sword looked around to retrieve it, but the sword as well Griphook was gone. Running from the scene moment he could, he had sprinted for cover amongst the surrounding goblins, brandishing the sword and crying, "Thieves! Thieves! Help! Thieves!" He vanished into the midst of the advancing crowd, all of whom were holding daggers and who accepted him without question.

Slipping on the hot metal, Harry struggled to his feet and knew that the only way out was through.

"Stupefy!" he bellowed, and Ron and Hermione joined in: Jets of red light flew into the crowd of goblins, and some toppled over, but others advanced, and Harry saw several wizard guards running around the corner. Percy and Annabeth drew their blades and began to fight their way through. They formed a circle around Nico, who still had the cup.

The tethered dragon let out a roar, and a gush of flame flew over the goblins; The wizards fled, doubled-up, back the way they had come, and inspiration, or madness, came to Harry. Pointing his wand at the thick cuffs chaining the beast to the floor, he yelled, "Relashio!"

The cuffs broken open with loud bangs.

"This way!" Harry yelled, and still shooting Stunning Spells at the advancing goblins, he sprinted toward the blind dragon.

"Harry ,Harry, what are you doing?" cried Hermione.

"Get up, climb up, come on"

"We're going to _ride _that thing?!" asked Hermione

"A_wesome"_ said Percy and he, Ron, Hermione, Annabeth, and Nico climbed on, and a second later the dragon became aware that it was untethered.

With a roar it reared: Harry dug in his knees, clutching as tightly as he could to the jagged scales as the wings opened, knocking the shrieking goblins aside like skittles, and it soared into the air. Harry, Ron, and Hermione, flat on its back, scraped against the ceiling as it dived toward the passage opening, while the pursuing goblins hurled daggers that glanced off its flanks.

"We'll never get out, it's too big!" Hermione screamed, but the dragon opened its mouth and belched flame again, blasting the tunnel, whose floors and ceiling cracked and crumbled. By sheer force, the dragon clawed and fought its way through. Harry's eyes were shut tight against the heat and dust: Deafened by the crash of rock and the dragon's roars, he could only cling to its back, expecting to be shaken off at any moment; then he heard Hermione yelling, "Defodio!"

She was helping the dragon enlarge the passageway, carving out the ceiling as it struggled upward toward the fresher air, away from the shrieking and clanking goblins: Harry and Ron copied her, blasting the ceiling apart with more gouging spells. Percy and Annabeth cut through the solid stone easily with their swords. They passed the underground lake, and the great crawling, snarling beast seemed to sense freedom and space ahead of it, and behind them the passage was full of the dragon's thrashing, spiked tail, of great lumps of rock, gigantic fractured stalactites, and the clanking of the goblins seemed to be growing more muffled, while ahead, the dragon's fire kept their progress clear.

And then at last, by the combined force of their spells and the dragon's brute strength, they had blasted their way out of the passage into the marble hallway. Goblins and wizards shrieked and ran for cover, and finally the dragon had room to stretch its wings: Turning its horned head toward the cool outside air it could smell beyond the entrance, it took off, and with Harry, Ron, and Hermione still clinging to its back, it forced its way through the metal doors, leaving them buckled and hanging from their hinges, as it staggered into Diagon Alley and launched itself into the sky.


	15. The Cup and Bianca

There was no means of steering; the dragon could not see where it was going, and Harry knew that if it turned sharply or rolled in midair they would find it impossible to cling onto its broad back. Nevertheless, as they climbed higher and higher, London unfurling below them like a gray-and-green map, Harry's overwhelming feeling was of gratitude for an escape that had seemed impossible. Crouching low over the beast's neck, he clung tight to the metallic scales, and the cool breeze was soothing on his burned and blistered skin, the dragon's wings beating the air like the sails of a windmill. Behind him, whether from delight or fear he could not tell. Ron kept swearing at the top of his voice, and Hermione seemed to be sobbing. Percy was yelling in delight while Annabeth clung to his back and Nico was completely silent, it was as if he wasn't even there.

After five minutes or so, Harry lost some of his immediate dread that the dragon was going to throw them off, for it seemed intent on nothing but getting as far away from its underground prison as possible; but the question of how and when they were to dismount remained rather frightening. He had no idea how long dragons could fly without landing, nor how this particular dragon, which could barely see, would locate a good place to put down. He glanced around constantly, imagining that he could feel his seat prickling.

The dragon seemed to crave cooler and fresher air. It climbed steadily until they were flying through wisps of chilly cloud, and Harry could no longer make out the little colored dots which were cars pouring in and out of the capital. On and on they flew, over countryside parceled out in patches of green and brown, over roads and rivers winding through the landscape like strips of matte and glossy ribbon.

"What do you reckon it's looking for?" Ron yelled as they flew farther and farther north.

"No idea," Harry bellowed back, yelling over the wind. His hands were numb with cold but he did not date attempt to shift his grip. He had been wondering for some time what they would do if they saw the coast sail beneath them, if the dragon headed for open seal he was cold and numb, not to mention desperately hungry and thirsty. When, he wondered, had the beast itself last eaten? Surely it would need sustenance before long? And what if, at that point, it realized it had three highly edible humans sitting on its back?

The sun slipped lower in the sky, which was turning indigo; and still the dragon flew, cities and towns gliding out of sight beneath them, its enormous shadow sliding over the earth like a giant dark cloud. Every part of Harry ached with the effort of holding on to the dragon's back.

We're losing height!" said Annabeth after a considerable amount of silence. It was true, the tiny houses below them were growing steadily, but (to Harry's relief) they didn't descend in a village. It circled over a lake, going lower and lower.

"Jump, now!" said Percy.

"We're too high!" Harry said back, "We'll be flattened!"

"Not if I can help it." Said Percy, and he slid off the dragons back, followed by Annabeth and Nico. Harry glanced at the other two, then, in sync, they jumped off. The water rushed upwards to meet them, and then swallowed them whole like some bizarre sort of whale.

Harry was holding his breath until he realized he didn't need to, he wasn't even wet! He, Hermione, Ron, Nico, and Annabeth were encased in a giant air bubble at the bottom of the lake. Annabeth and Nico were laughing happily at Harry, Ron and Hermione's stunned faces. Outside the bubble, Percy was floating in the water, breathing normally and completely dry. He moved the bubble towards shore, swimming ahead of it.

When they reached the shore, they all lay exhausted on the grass, except for Percy; the water seemed to have restored his strength.

Harry, who was visibly hurt and exhausted staggered up and began to perform protective spells around the place. If they were going to camp here, they would have to put up the spells quickly. When he had finished, he joined the others. It was the first time that he had seen them properly since escaping from the vault. The polyjuice potion had worn off and Hermione looked like herself again. They all had angry red burns all over their faces and arms, and their clothing was singed away in places. Annabeth and Nico were both eating something that was healing them and Percy was using the water to heal Hermione and Ron, just as he had done for Dobby. Hermione took out the fresh clothes they had gotten from shell cottage from her beaded bag as well as some pumpkin juice. After they had changed and drank their fill, they set up the tent and headed inside.

Harry felt a bit of relief as he walked into the tent, it was like a second home to him.

"Well, on the upside, we got the horcrux!" he said, watching at Nico take the cup from his pocket.

"On the downside, no sword." Said Annabeth, examining the cup closely.

"The dirty, double crossing little scab." Ron muttered through gritted teeth. "How are we gonna' get rid of this thing now?" he gestured to the cup.

Harry had no ideas as to that. They had lost their one weapon against the horcruxes. But to Harry's surprise, Nico smiled.

"We can get rid of it easily." He said, "I'm _literally_ the son of death, killing a soul that was already meant to be dead? Piece of cake."

"I don't know Nico…" said Ron "If a horcrux is about to be killed, it'll do, uh, _strange_ things to its attacker."

Harry knew what Ron was talking about. It was he who had killed the locket horcrux and it's final act was torturing Ron.

"I've faced pretty bad things." Said Nico.

"If you think you can, do it!" said Percy.

They took the cup outside and gathered around Nico. He held his hand out, pointing it at the cup. He began to slowly curl his open hand into a fist. A horrible screaming sound began to emanate from the cup. Nico had barely bent a few of his fingers and he was already sweating. The screaming from the cup grew louder, and suddenly, the figure of a girl materialized over the cup. She looked a lot like Nico, with the same olive brown skin and dark silky hair, which was long, and tied back into a ponytail. She had a bow and arrow on her back. The screaming from the cup began to come from her,

"Nico! Nico stop!" she screamed, "Why are you hurting me!?"

Nico's eyes widened and his half closed hand snapped open. "Bianca?!" he asked, as if hardly daring to believe it.

Harry, Ron and Hermione stared confused, but Percy rushed up to Nico and put a hand on his shoulder. "It's not Bianca, Nico! Don't listen to it!"

But Nico shook him off, his eyes fixed on Bianca.

"I'm alive, Nico!" she said, "I'm in the cup! If you destroy it, you destroy me!"

"W-What?" breathed Nico, looking from the cup to Bianca, tears of joy beginning to fill his eyes, "Y-your alive?"

"No, she's not, Nico!" screamed Annabeth, "It's not Bianca! Don't listen to it!" but Nico was deaf to anything but Bianca's voice

"You can bring me back, Nico! A soul for a soul, remember!" said the fake-Bianca "If you kill Harry, I can come back to you!"

"K-kill Harry? I-l can't, he's my friend!" stuttered Nico.

"Yes you can, Nico!" implored fake-Bianca, "Is he more important to you then me?!"

Images began to form behind her; first, he and Bianca were merrily playing as children. Next, they were both in Halloween costumes, eating candy together. Then, Bianca was standing up for Nico at a school to a group of bullies. Then lastly, Bianca was hugging him tight. She kissed him on the forehead, and then, the images dissaeared.

"If you kill Harry Potter, I can come back!" she said. Slowly, Nico turned to face Harry, his eyes were pure scarlet. Then, they returned to their normal black. He turned back to Bianca.

"I'm sorry." He said. And in one fluid motion, he clenched his open hand into a fist, and the cup shattered, the scream of Bianca echoing through the night.

Nico collapsed on the ground, tears streaming from his eyes. "Goodbye Bianca." He whisered.


	16. The Angel's Curse

Inside the tent, the conversation was not much out of the ordinary, but there was a merry atmosphere in the air. They had just broken into Gringotts, the safest place ever, gotten another horcrux and destroyed it! The only people who seemed disconnected from the conversation was Nico, who was taking the first watch and Ron, who seemed lost in thought. As Harry listened to the happy recounting from the exciting day, it was getting harder and harder for him to ignore the prickling in his scar. It wouldn't be long until he would be forced to give in.

"I'll be right back you guys." He said, standing up. "Bathroom break."

He rushed over to the bathroom and closed his eyes. He was standing in the deserted Malfoy Manor. He was not only furious that they had let the boy escape, _again. _But sensed a presence had been here. A presence that he, Lord Voldemort, was vulnerable to. The Lestranges had motioned that Potter had three new accomplices. These people had made it clear that they were not wizards. He had looked into this and now, pacing in the drawing room of Malfoy Manor, he knew what they were, and he knew which one he was vulnerable to. He would have to find this new threat, and eliminate it.

"M-my Lord" said a meek voice behind him. He turned around and saw Yalaxy in the doorway.

"M-my Lord, it is Potter and his accomplices. They have b-broken into Gringotts."

Burning rage temporarily blinded Harry's vision of Voldemort. His scar burned as if someone had pressed a white hot wire onto it. When he could see again, Voldemort was in Gringotts. He was standing in a dimly lit room, and a semicircle of wizards faced him, and on the floor at his feet knelt a small, quaking figure.

"What did you say to me?" His voice was high and cold, but fury and fear burned inside him. The one thing that he had dreaded, but it could not be true, he could not see how...

The goblin was trembling, unable to meet the red eyes high above his.

"Say it again!" murmured Voldemort. "Say it again!"

"M-my Lord," stammered the goblin, its black eyes wide with terror, "m-my Lord... we t-tried to st-stop them... Im-impostors, my Lord... broke -broke into the ¨C into the Lestranges' vault..."

"Impostors? What impostors? I thought Gringotts had ways of revealing impostors? Who were they?"

"It was... it was... the P-Potter b-boy and the f-five saccomplices..."

"And they took?" he said, his voice rising, a terrible fear gripping him, "Tell me! What did they take?"

"A... a s-small golden c-cup m-my Lord..."

The scream of rage, of denial left him as if it were a stranger's. He was crazed, frenzied, it could not be true, it was impossible, nobody had known. How was it possible that the boy could have discovered his secret?

The Elder Wand slashed through the air and green light erupted through the room; the kneeling goblin rolled over dead; the watching wizards scattered before him, terrified. Bellatrix and Lucius Malfoy threw others behind them in their race for the door, and again and again his wand fell, and those who were left were slain, all of them, for bringing him this news, for hearing about the golden cup - Alone amongst the dead he stomped up and down, and they passed before him in vision: his treasures, his safeguards, his anchors to immortality ¨C the diary was destroyed and the cup was stolen. What if, what if, the boy knew about the others? Could he know, had he already acted, had he traced more of them? Was Dumbledore at the root of this? Dumbledore, who had always suspected him; Dumbledore, dead on his orders; Dumbledore, whose wand was his now, yet who reached out from the ignominy of death through the boy, the boy -

But surely if the boy had destroyed any of his Horcruxes, he, Lord Voldemort, would have known, would have felt it? He, the greatest wizard of them all; he, the most powerful; he, the killer of Dumbledore and of how many other worthless, nameless men. How could Lord Voldemort not have known, if he, himself, most important and precious, had been attacked, mutilated?

True, he had not felt it when the diary had been destroyed, but he had thought that was because he had no body to fell, being less than ghost... No, surely, the rest were safe... The other Horcruxes must be intact...

But he must know, he must be sure... He paced the room, kicking aside the goblin's corpse as he passed, and the pictures blurred and burned in his boiling brain: the lake, the shack, and Hogwarts -

A modicum of calm cooled his rage now. How could the boy know that he had hidden the ring in the Gaunt shack? No one had ever known him to be related to the Gaunts, he had hidden the connection, the killings had never been traced to him. The ring, surely, was safe.

And how could the boy, or anybody else, know about the cave or penetrate its protection? The idea of the locket being stolen was absurd...

As for the school: He alone knew where in Hogwarts he had stowed the Horcrux, because he alone had plumed the deepest secrets of that place...

And there was still Nagini, who must remain close now, no longer sent to do his bidding, under his protection...

But to be sure, to be utterly sure, he must return to each of his hiding places, he must redouble protection around each of his Horcruxes... A job, like the quest for the Elder Wand, that he must undertake alone...

Which should he visit first, which was in most danger? An old unease flickered inside him. Dumbledore had known his middle name... Dumbledore might have made the connection with the Gaunts... Their abandoned home was, perhaps, the least secure of his hiding places, it was there that he would go first...

The lake, surely impossible... though was there a slight possibility that Dumbledore might have known some of his past misdeeds, through the orphanage.

And Hogwarts... but he knew the his Horcrux there was safe; it would be impossible for Potter to enter Hogsmeade without detection, let alone the school. Nevertheless, it would be prudent to alert Snape to the fact that the boy might try to reenter the castle... To tell Snape why the boy might return would be foolish, of course; it had been a grave mistake to trust Bellatrix and Malfoy. Didn't their stupidity and carelessness prove how unwise it was ever to trust?

He would visit the Gaunt shack first, then, and take Nagini with him. He would not be parted from the snake anymore... but first; he would take care of Potter's new accomplice, this new threat. He strode from the room, through the hall, and out into the dark garden where the fountain played. He called the snake in Parseltongue and it slithered out to join him like a long shadow...

Harry opened his eyes. Voldemort knew they were hunting Horcruxes, and he had found out what Percy, Annabeth, and Nico were! But who was the new threat? He thought about the three half-bloods. Of all of them, Percy seemed to have been through the most, and was the most skilled fighter, Voldemort had probably meant him. He would need to warn Percy straight away.

He rushed out of the bathroom and to the sitting room. Where the others were still talking.

"Percy, can I talk to you privately?" he asked.

"Sure." Said Percy. They went over to the kitchen, and Harry told him about what he had seen.

"I'll be on my guard." Said Percy when Harry was done explaining

"Should we tell the others?" asked Harry.

"No, there's no need to worry them. I can take care of myself."

"I know that." Said Harry, "I just wanted to warn you."

"Let's get back to the others."

When they arrived at the sitting room again, the spirits of the others seemed to have dampened, and they were now talking solemnly amoungst each other.

"What's wrong?" asked Harry.

"It's Nico," said Annabeth. "He refuses to come inside or talk to us. When we tried to tell him to get some sleep, the just snapped at us."

"Do you think there's something bothering him?" asked Hermione.

"Of _course_ there's something bothering him." Ron suddenly shouted. He had not spoken during the entire conversation until now. "He just destroyed a horcrux! Of course he's not in tip top shape!"

**Nico**

Despite Nico being exhausted from killing the horcrux, he insisted on taking the first watch. What else could he do? He had to make it up to everyone else. He had acted so weak when trying to kill the horcrux, ignored their warnings not to listen to the fake Bianca. _Bianca_. Seeing her and all the images of them together in the past had renewed his grief over her death. Right now, he just wanted to be alone.

Sitting outside in the dark, he thought he heard noises in the woods several times, but he knew it was just his nerves. He heard the flap of the tent opening, and from the sound of the footsteps, he knew exactly who it was.

"For the last time, Percy, I'm fine." Said Nico, without turning around.  
Behind him, Percy stopped in his tracks. They had already tried to get him to come inside several times before.

"Nico, if you're sitting out here to...to make it up to us or something, you don't have to. You have nothing to feel guilty about. _Nothing_.

"I'm not guilty about anything." Said Nico, lying through his teeth. "I just like the peace and quiet." Another lie. Although he had never been a social butterfly, being around the rest of the group almost made him feel like he belonged.

Percy sighed. "Destroying the horcrux was hard work, whenever you feel the least bit tired, you should come in." And he left.

Nico could hear voices inside the tent, then about ten minutes later, another person came out. Nico face broke into a confused frown as he recognized it as Ron. Ron had hardly ever talked to him during this entire quest, and he seemed to be the one who found Nico 'creepy', just like everyone else did. Ron walked over and sat down by Nico.

"Nico, you really don't have to feel guilty." Said Ron

"I don't feel guilty!" Nico almost shouted, honestly, this was getting annoying.

"Yes you do." Said Ron flatly. "And believe me; I know exactly how you feel."

"No you don't." Nico snapped. "No one will ever understand me. I'm an outcast, a child of Hades. No one likes people with my dad."

"Says who?" Said Ron. "Look, I had to kill a horcrux too; I know how it feels, but you saved our lives, Nico!"

"And I was about to destroy them just as easily!"Nico sighed and bowed his head in shame. "For a while, I thought I might belong somewhere. With you all. But then, _boom_, with a bit of persuasion I was ready to kill all of you!" A single tear slid down his cheek. "The horcrux knew me. It knew exactly what I wanted most in the world. I'll never belong anywhere, not if I can be turned against my friends that easily." He felt Ron put a hand on his back.

"When I had to kill the locket horcrux, it knew me too." He said, "It showed me exactly what I wanted, and convinced me I could have it...if I killed Harry. For a moment there, I had every intention of killing him. Harry! My best mate I had known for six years! I was about to stab him!"It was Ron's turn to put his face in his hands in shame. Maybe he really did know what Nico was going through.

Ron quickly straightened up. "But that thing that made us want to kill Harry, that was Tom Riddle. That wasn't us." He stood up and put a hand on Nico's shoulder. "That wasn't _you_. Don't feel guilty Nico."

Nico felt himself smiling. "Thanks Ron. Seriously though, let me finish this watch. I'll come inside in an hour or so."

Ron smiled back and headed back into the tent.

"Did you talk some sense into him?" Asked Annabeth worriedly as soon as Ron entered the tent.

"He was just guilty." Said Ron, "Like I was when I killed a horcrux. We'll be fine."

Annabeth sighed with relief and Percy felt a little bit better. But he noticed how Ron had said _we_ when he was talking about Nico. _We'll_ be fine. He couldn't help but think Ron and Nico had both shared a unique experience that neither of them had completely healed from. He fingered the steak of gray hair on his head he had gotten two years ago, when he held the weight of the sky. Annabeth had one as well, for she too, had beard the weight of the sky.

He lay down in his sleeping bag and let his eyes slowly close. Suddenly, he was woken from a strangely dreamless sleep from outside.

"Percy-Annabeth-!" But Nico's cries suddenly quieted. All five of them rushed outside to see Nico putting away his sword.

"Nico, what is it?!" Said Hermione, looking around with her wand outstretched. But there no attackers in sight. The forest was quiet and peaceful.

"Sorry guys, false alarm." Said Nico sheepishly. "I thought I saw someone, but it was just an animal."

Percy didn't think Nico was lying, but everything he knew about him said Nico wouldn't get so easily spooked by an animal. Perhaps it was just because he was tired. Harry seemed to be thinking the same thing.

"You should turn in for the night, Nico; you've been out here for hours. I'll take the second watch." He said.

"Yes I-I think I will." He stuttered. For a moment, he had looked downright bewildered, but then he returned to his normal disposition and headed into the tent, followed by Percy, Annabeth, Hermione, and Ron.

The next day, after they had packed the tent, Nico announced:  
"I know where the next horcrux is." He said

"You do?" Asked Annabeth, surprised. "But a few days ago, at shell cottage, I asked you if you knew where the next one was, and you said you didn't have a clue."

Nico shrugged. "Maybe my skills got better after destroying the cup? You can never tell with half-blood powers."

"Where is it?" Asked Percy.

"I can't really describe the place. I'll shadow travel us there." They all held on to Nico, and momentarily disappeared into the world of the shadows. When they emerged, they were on a grassy hillside in the country.

"Uh, Nico," Ron said, "There's nothing here."

"It's underground." Said Nico, "I'd open up the passage now, but none of us will be able to get inside."

"Why not?"

"There's a powerful barrier over the entrance." Said Nico. "You can't get past it if you're carrying a wand, celestrial bronze, or any kind of weapon for that matter."

"That doesn't make any sense!" said Percy.

"Actually, Seaweed Brain, it makes perfect sense." Said Annabeth, "The barrier won't let anyone through unless they're completely defenseless."

"But we can't go in unarmed! Can we apperate past it?" Asked Hermione.

"No, but I might be able to shadow travel past it." Said Nico. "Give your weapons to me, and I can open up the tunnel."

They gave their wands and blades to Nico, Percy and Harry a little reluctantly.

"Good, now..." Nico snapped his fingers and Hermione screamed as ten skeletal worriers rose from the earth and grabbed them all except Nico.

"BLOODY HELL! What the -?" Ron began to swear loudly.

"Nico, what's going on!?" Said Percy, fighting to break the firm grip two skeletal worriers held him in.

Nico smiled a cruel smile that didn't suit him. "Oh, Mr. Jackson." He said shaking his head. "Your fatal flaw is so very much like Potter's. You would never have thought one of your _friends_ would betray you."

"Nico, why are you doing this?" asked Annabeth, struggling against the skeletons that were holding her.

Nico turned to her. "You must learn to trust no one, daughter of wisdom-"

Suddenly, Nico doubled over in pain, and the skeletal warrior's grips slackened, as if they were not sure if their master wanted them to hold their captors. When Percy got a glimpse of Nico's face, he saw his eyes were wild.

"P-Percy, help." He gasped, as if he had just run a marathon, "I-I'm b-b-being controlled-"

Then, he blinked, and his eyes were glazed over again, completely calm. He smiled. "Your friend here is quite a fighter." He said.

"The imperious curse!" Ron suddenly shouted, "Nico's being controlled!"

"Very good, Weasley." Said Nico. "Mr. Di Angelo has been under a very powerful imperious curse since yesterday night, when we ambushed him. It is currently I, Bellatrix Lestrange, who controls him now."

"_You!"_ said Hermione softly, her words trembling with anger, "Give control back to Nico, _NOW!_"

"Oh, I can't do that, Mudblood." Said Ballatrix/Nico, "A child of death hunting horcruxes? We can't have _that_ now, can we?" Bellatrix/Nico cackled. "Come, my little puppet here will transport you to your holding place, until the Dark Lord returns from his business."

"_Don't call him a PUPPET!"_ Hermione screamed, letting out all her loathing of Bellatrix.

"Oh, but the name is so fitting." Said Nico/Ballatrix, and with that, Nico transported them to an entirely new place.

Percy, Annabeth, Harry, Ron and Hermione were standing in a familiar dungeon, the same cellar of Malfoy Manor. The skeletal warriors were still holding them. On the other side of the door, Percy could see Nico and behind him, Bellatrix pointing her wand at him.

"The dark lord has been summoned." Ballatrix cackled, "The son of death will make a fine addition to his army.

"_No!"_ said Percy, he couldn't let Nico end like this, servicing the darkest wizard in all of history against his will.

"The Dark Lord will finish Potter." Said Bellatrix, "But for now," she turned to Nico, "Kill the rest."

Dazed and blank, Nico picked up his sword and opened the door to the cell. The five of them struggled harder against the skeletons, but they had no weapons.

"Hold them tighter." Nico murmured, imperiused, and the skeletons obliged.

"Now kill them!" shouted Bellatrix, sounding delighted. Nico held up his sword and began to advance on them, but then, he hesitated.

"I won't." he muttered softly.

"Do it!" demanded Bellatrix.

Nico took another few steps forward, but then stopped again, "I won't." he repeated, this time in a normal voice.

"Kill them, NOW! _IMPERO_!" screamed Bellatrix, pointing her wand forcefully at Nico.

"I WON'T!" Nico shouted back. The curse shattered. He rounded on Bellatrix, his cheeks flushed with anger, his eyes filled with hatred. With one fluid strike, he stabbed her in the chest.


	17. The Next Two

They watched in shock as Bellatrix swayed on her feet, and then fell to the ground. Nico watched with loathing as she began to twitch on the dungeon floor, fighting the inevitable.

"Die already." Nico muttered, staring unblinkingly at Bellatrix. She obliged to the son of death, and with a final shudder, became quite still. He looked at the clay of Bellatrix Lestrange, then walked over to her and pulled the sword out of her chest. Turning to face the rest of them, he snapped his fingers and the skeletons all collapsed into a pile of bones.

"_Blimey."_ Said Ron quietly, sounding shocked.

"You killed her." Whispered Hermione, suddenly, a smile broke out on her face, "You killed her!" Hermione rushed forward and gave Nico a hug. He awkwardly patted her back, and over her shoulder, could have sworn he saw envy on Ron's face. Hermione quickly let go, blushing furiously.

"That was amazing, Nico." Said Percy earnestly.

"Urgh, it feels like I just woke up." Said Nico, rubbing his head. "How did we get into the Malfoy manor?" He looked around, confused. Annabeth started to walk towards Nico, but hurried back to Harry, who had collapsed onto the ground clutching his scar. His eyes closed, and began to laugh excitedly. But they knew it wasn't him laughing, it was Voldemort. When he opened his eyes a few moments later, Ron immediately asked him.

"What did you see?"

"He's really excited, he knows we're here." Said Harry, "Bellatrix must have called him."

"Then what are we waiting for!" Said Percy, "can you three apperate us out of here?" He said, turning to Harry, Ron, and Hermione. They nodded and everyone grabbed onto to them.

Less than a second later, they emerged at a clearing in a thin forest. Sunlight filtered through the trees but the air was icy cold.

"Okay, I want an explanation, now." Said Nico as soon as their feet touched the ground.  
"About what?" Said Hermione.  
"About what just happened!" Said Nico, "the last thing I remember was when Bellatrix ambushing me outside the tent, she pointed her wand at me and said 'imperio', and ever since then, it's like everything I did was in a dream. Everything is fuzzy."  
Harry sighed. "Okay Nico, here's what happened." He hurriedly how Bellatrix had manipulated him and lead them all to capture, then how Nico had broken out of the curse. "And you know everything that happened next." Finished Harry.  
After a shocked moment of silence, Nico put his face in his palms.  
"Oh gods, I'm so sorry guys" he said, "You know I would never do that on my own accord."  
"Don't feel bad, if it's anyone's fault, it's mine." Said harry, " I knew where the next two horcruxes were, but I fooled myself into thinking that the location you brought us to had one."  
"Wait, wait, wait," said Annabeth, "what do you mean, you knew where the next two horcruxes were? How would you know that?"  
Harry quickly told them what he had seen, and how Voldemort suspected they were hunting horcruxes.  
"I don't think he's searched the Gaunt's shack yet, if he had you would have felt his anger when he realized the ring was gone." Said Annabeth.

"You're probably right. We have to head to Hogwarts, now. Before he finds out for certain that we're hunting horcruxes." Said Harry.

"You can't show your face at Hogwarts harry, not even Hogsmeade." Said Hermione shrilly, "if anyone sees you, you'll be taken to Azkaban, and Nico, you'll probably be killed on the spot! We need to think of a plan-"

"Hermione, we don't have time to 'think of a plan'," said Harry "every moment we spend here is a moment wasted! We can't let Voldemort find out we're hunting his horcruxes, or at least not right now."

"Harry's right, we should leave now." Said Percy, "The sooner we destroy the next two horcruxes, the better. Nico, can you tell what the horcruxes are?"

Nico closed his eyes and concentrated. "The first one is easy," he said with his eyes still closed, "It's an animal, a snake. Currently, it's at Tom Riddles side."

"That's Nagini." Said Harry.

"The second one is harder." Continued Nico, "it's a trinket of some sort, I maybe a piece of jewelry. It has to do with a person named Rowena Ravenclaw."

"I knew it!" Cried Harry, "he went after one item from each of the four founders!"

Nico opened his eyes, confused. "What do you mean, the four founders?"

"It's not important right now, we should-" Harry stopped mid-sentence, his knees had buckled and his hand was clutching his scar in agony. After a few moments he opened his eyes.  
"He been to the Gaunt's shack, and found the horcrux missing." Said Harry, "Let's go, we're running out of time."


	18. Back To Hogwarts

The six of them apperated into the place called Hogsmeade, despite Hermione's pleas to stay and create a plan. Dark shop fronts, and the mist line of black mountains beyond the village and the curve in the road ahead that led off toward a huge castle, and light spilling from it happened. When they arrived, Percy saw Harry's face fill with nostalgia and he knew they had come to the right place.

"Is this it?' whispered Annabeth

"Yes," whispered Ron, "Now we just need to-".He was cut off by a loud, horrible scream. It vibrated his heart and tore every nerve in Percy's body, and he knew their appearance had caused it. Lights flickered on from the many shops and people holding wands began to spill out on to the street. Death eaters. Nico raised his sword and Ron took out his wand, but Harry quickly told them to sop.

"There are too many of them" he whispered, "We can't fight all of them, so don't give away our position!"

"_Accio Cloak!" _said one of the death eaters, pointing his wand in the air. Harry quickly grabbed the cloak, as if he expected it to fly off, but nothing happened. Percy assumed the sell had failed or the cloak had some sort of enchantment on it.

"Not under you're wrapper, are you Potter?" yelled the Death Eater who had tried the charm and then to his fellows. "Spread now. He's here."

Six of the Death Eaters ran toward them: the group backed as quickly as possible down the nearest side street, and the Death Eaters missed them by inches. They waited in the darkness, listening to the footsteps running up and down, beams of light flying along the street from the Death Eaters' searching wands.

"Let's just leave!" Hermione whispered. "Disapparate now!"

"We can't!" said Percy, "We need to get that horcrux before You-Know-Who gets to Hogwarts!"

A Death Eater shouted, "We know you are here, Potter, and there's no getting away! We'll find you!"

"They were ready for us," whispered Harry. "They set up that spell to tell them we'd come. I reckon they've done something to keep us here, trap us."

"What about dementors?" called another Death Eater. "Let 'em have free rein, they'd find him quick enough!"

"The Dark Lord wants Potter dead by no hands but his-"

"An' dementors won't kill him! The Dark Lord wants Potter's life, nor his soul. He'll be easier to kill if he's been Kissed first!"

"Dementors? Kisses?" asked Percy. He didn't know what dementors were, but Harry, Ron, and Hermione looked terrified.

"We're going to have to try to Disapparate, Harry!" Hermione whispered.

But before they could try,an unnatural cold being spread over the street. Light was sucked from the environment right up to the stars, which vanished. In the pitch blackness, he felt Hermione take hold of his arm and together, they turned on the spot.

The air through which they needed to move, seemed to have become solid: They could not Disapparate; the Death Eaters had cast their charms well. The cold was biting deeper and deeper into Percy's flesh. He heard Annabeth give a little whimper next to him. He took her hand. Then, around the corner, gliding noiselessly, came more than ten huge, cloaked figures. There were hand protruding from the cloak, glistening, grayish, and slimey looking. Percy knew these were dementors, visible because they were of a denser darkness than their surroundings. Every happy thought and memory he held began to fade away, leaving only the worste experiences of his life in his mind. The cold went deeper into his skin, into his very heart. He felt like he was drowning in cold, he couldn't see.

"_Expecto Patronum!" _he heard Harry whisper. A silver stag burst from his wand and charged: The Dementors scattered and there was a triumphant yell from somewhere out of sight

"It's him, down there, down there, I saw his Patronus, it was a stag!"

The Dementors have retreated, the stars were popping out again and the footsteps of the Death Eaters were becoming louder; but before Harry in his panic could decide what to do, there was a grinding of bolts nearby, a door opened on the left-side of the narrow street, and a rough voice said: "Potter, in here, quick!"

Harry, Ron, and Hermione hurried towards the building, but dazed from the dementors, Nico, Percy, and Annabeth lagged behind.

"Come on guys, hurry!" said Hermione urgently, dragging them inside. The voices of the death eaters sounded very close as they hurried into the shop. It was a small, dusty pub, lit by one, flickering candle.

"Upstairs, quickly! And keep the cloak on!" said the man who had invited them in, the bartender. They climbed up the rickety staircase as fast as they could and found themselves in a sitting room with a durable carpet and a small fireplace, above which hung a single large oil painting of a blonde girl who gazed out at the room with a kind of a vacant sweetness. Downstairs, Percy could hear the bartender covering up for them, claiming he had set off the alarm.

"W-what were those things?" asked Nico, his voice trembling.

"Dementors." Said Harry gravely. "They suck out happiness and warmth and leave you with only bad thoughts and memories."

"Yeah, we noticed." Said Percy. He leaned over and gave a small hug to Annabeth, who was very pale. He heard the death eaters leave the entrance of the pub and Hermione cried with relief. Harry pulled the cloak off the five of them as the bartender came upstairs.

"You bloody fools," he said gruffly, looking from one to the other of them. "What were you thinking, coming here?"

"Thank you," said Harry. "You can't thank you enough. You saved our lives!"

The barman grunted. Harry approached him looking up into the face: trying to see past the long, stringy, wire-gray hair beard. He wore spectacles. Behind the dirty lenses, the eyes were a strangely familiar piercing, brilliant blue.

"It's your eye that was in the mirror." Said Percy suddenly, remembering where he had seen the eyes before. There was a silence in the room. "You sent Dobby." Continued Percy

The barman nodded and looked around for the elf.

"Thought he'd be with you. Where've you left him?"

"He went back to Hogwarts," said Harry, "It's where he works." The barman turned away, lightning lamps with prods of his wand, not looking at any of them.

"Are you Aberforth?" asked Hermione. The barman grunted in reply, and Percy took that for a yes. He heard Ron's stomach give a loud growl.

"I'll get you some food." Said Aberforth, heading down to the kitchens. He returned with a large loaf of bread, some cheese, and a pewter jug of mead, which he set upon a small table in front of the fire. After they had eaten and drank their fill, Aberforth said:

"Right, now we need to get you out of Hogsmeade, you can disapparate from the pub directly-"

"We're not leaving." Said Nico, "We have a job to here, at Hogwarts."

"Hogwarts, eh?' said Aberforth, raising an eyebrow "My dear boy, you do realize going into the castle with you current company is practically suicidal."

"Like Nico just said, we have a job to do, it will help us defeat You-Know-Who, so we aren't leaving" snapped Annabeth, dislike growing in her eyes. Aberforth turned to Harry.

"Who are these friends of yours, Potter? I don't recall seeing them in the _Daily Prophet."_

"They're helping us on our quest." Said Harry

"You care for them? Do you care for all your friends?"

"Uh, yes." Said Harry, confused.

"Tell him to hide, then!" said Aberforth. "Tell them to take care of themselves! You-Know-Who has won this war! There's no point putting innocent person in danger!"

"Sometimes you've got to think about more than your own safety! Sometimes you've got to think about the greater good! This is war!"

"You're seventeen, boy!"

"I'm of age, and I'm going to keep fighting even if you've given up!"

"Who says I've given up?"

"You-Know-Who has won this war." Harry said, mimicking Aberforth

"I don't say I like it, but it's the truth!"

"No, it isn't." said Harry. "Your brother knew how to finish You-Know-Who and he passed the knowledge on to me, it's our responsibility to finish his mission. I'm going to keep going until I succeed, or I die. Don't think I don't know how this might end. I've known it for years."

"And we'll be with him, the whole way.' Said Percy

He waited for Aberforth to jeer or to argue, but he did not. He merely moved.

"We need to get into Hogwarts," said Harry again. "If you can't help us, we'll wait till daybreak, leave you in peace, and try to find a way in ourselves. If you can help us ¨C well, now would be a great time to mention it."

Aberforth remained fixed in his chair, gazing at the six of them with curiosity. At last he cleared his throat, got to his feet, walked around the little table, and approached the portrait of the blonde girl.

"You know what to do," he said.

She smiled, turned, and walked away. Percy still hadn't adjusted to the moving portraits in the wizarding world, but noticed that she didn't walk out of her frame like most portraits did, but along what seemed to be a long tunnel painted behind her. They watched her slight figure retreating until finally she was swallowed by the darkness.

"Uh, what was that supposed to do? Asked Annabeth.

"There's only one way in now," said Aberforth. "You must know they've got all the old secret passageways covered at both ends, dementors all around the boundary walls, regular patrols inside the school from what my sources tell me. The place has never been so heavily guarded."

"But what...?" began Hermione, frowning at the picture. She stopped as a tiny white dot reappeared at the end of the painted tunnel. The girl was walking back toward them, growing bigger and bigger as she came. But there was somebody else with her now, someone taller than she was who was limping along, looking excited. His hair was longer than Harry had ever seen. He appeared and torn. Larger and larger the two figures grew, until only their heads and shoulders filled the portrait.

Then the whole thing swung forward on the wall like a little door, and the entrance to a real tunnel was revealed. And out of it, his hair overgrown, his face cut, his robes ripped, clambered the real Neville Longbottom, who gave a roar of delight, leapt down from the mantelpiece and yelled.

"I knew you'd come! I knew it, Harry!"

"Neville, what-how-?" Harry stuttered, but Neville had spotted Ron and Hermione, and with yells of delight was hugging them too. The longer Harry looked at Neville, the worse he appeared: One of his eyes was swollen yellow and purple, there were gouge marks on his face, and his general air of unkemptness suggested that he had been living enough. Nevertheless, his battered visage shone with happiness as he let go of Hermione and said again,

"I knew you'd come! Kept telling Seamus it was a matter of time!" then, he saw ercy, Annabeth, and Nico, and his face went from positively beaming to suspicious and wary. "Who are they?" he asked Harry quietly.

"Oh, this is Percy, Annabeth, and Nico, they're wizards from America!" said Hermione. "They've been helping us on our mission." Neville's face became slightly less distrustful.

"Neville Longbottom." He said, shaking the trio's hands.

"Neville, what's happened to you?" asked Harry, gaping at his many cuts and bruises.

"What? This?" Neville dismissed his injuries with a shake of the head. "This is nothing, Seamus is worse. You'll see."

"Who's Seamus?" muttered Annabeth.

"Another student at Hogwarts" said Ron

"Shall we get going then? Oh," asked Neville, he turned to Aberforth, "Ab, there might be a couple more people to the way."

"Couple more?" repeated Aberforth ominously. "What d'you mean, a couple more, Longbottom? There's a curfew and a Camwaulding Charm on the whole village!"

"I know, that's why they'll be apparating directly into the bar," said Neville. "Just send them down the passage when they get here, will you? Thanks a lot."

Neville held out his hand to Hermione and helped her to climb up onto the mantelpiece and into the tunnel; Ron, Percy, Nico, and Annabeth followed, then Neville. Harry addressed Aberforth.

"I don't know how to thank you. You've saved our lives twice."

"Look after 'em, then," said Aberforth gruffly. "I might not be able to save 'em a third time."

Harry chambered up onto the mantelpiece and through the hole behind the portrait. There were smooth stone steps on the other side: It looked as though the passageway had been there for years. Brass lamps hung from the walls and the earthy floor was worn and smooth; as they walked, their shadows rippled, fanlike, across the wall.

"How long's this been here?" Ron asked as they set off. "It isn't on the Marauder's Map, is it Harry? I thought there were only seven passages in and out of school?"

"I've never been to a school with secret passages." Remarked Percy.

"Then you obviously haven't been to Hogwarts." Said Neville, smiling "They sealed off all the other passages before the start of the year. There's no chance of getting through any of them now, not with the curses over the entrances and Death Eaters and dementors waiting at the exits." He started walking backward, beaming, drinking them in. "Never mind that stuff ... Is it true? Did you break into Gringotts? Did you escape on a dragon? It's everywhere, everyone's talking about it, Terry Boot got beaten up by Carrow for yelling about it in the Great Hall at dinner!"

"Yeah, it's true," said Harry.

"It was awesome." Said Nico. Neville laughed gleefully, then asked, "But what have you been doing? People have been saying you've just been on the run, Harry, but I don't think so. I think you've been up to something."

"You're right," said Harry, he quickly changed the subject, "Tell us about Hogwarts, Neville, we haven't heard anything."

"It's been ... Well, it's not really like Hogwarts anymore," said Neville, the smile fading from his face as he spoke. "Do you know about the Carrows?"

"Who?" asked Annabeth

"Two Death Eaters who teach there." Said Ron

"They do more than teach," said Neville grimly. "They're in charge of all discipline. They like punishment, the Carrows."

"Like Umbridge?" asked Harry

"You know, at this point, there are so many names I'm not gonna' ask who they all are." Said Percy. Neville chuckled

"That's good, 'cause each name would take a lot of explaining. As for Umbridge, nah, they make her look tame. The other teachers are all supposed to refer us to the Carrows if we do anything wrong. They don't, though, if they can avoid it. You can tell they all hate them as much as we do." Said Neville, he began to talk about the punishments they gave out and the rebellion from the students.

"We've been rebuilding Dumbledore's army," said Neville, "And revolting against Snape and the Carrows, they used to be great."

"You used to?" said Harry, who had noticed the past tense.

"Well, it got more difficult as time went on." said Neville. "We lost Luna at Christmas, and Ginny never came back after Easter, and the three of us were sort of the leaders. The Carrows seemed to know I was behind a lot of it, so they started coming down on me hard, and then Michael Corner went and got caught releasing a first-year they'd chained up, and they tortured him pretty badly. That scared people off."

"No kidding," muttered Ron, as the passage began to slope upward.

"Yeah, well, I couldn't ask people to go through what Michael did, so we dropped those kinds of stunts. But we were still fighting, doing underground stuff, right up until a couple of weeks ago. That's when they decided there was only one way to stop me, I suppose, and they went for Gran."

"They what?" said Harry, Ron, and Hermione together. Percy, Annabeth, and Nico gave sideways glances at each other.

"Yeah," said Neville, panting a little now, because the passage was climbing so steeply, "Well, you can see their thinking. It had worked really well, kidnapping kids to force their relatives to behave. I s'pose it was only a matter of time before they did it the other way around. Thing was," he faced them, and Harry was astonished to see that he was grinning, "They bit off a bit more than they could chew with Gran. Little old witch living alone, they probably thought they didn't need to send anyone particularly powerful. Anyway," Neville laughed, "Dawlish is still in St. Mungo's and Gran's on the run. She sent me a letter," he clapped a hand to the breast pocket of his robes, "telling me she was proud of me, that I'm my parent's son, and to keep it up."

"Cool," said Ron.

"You've a pretty awesome Gran." Said Percy

"Yea," said Neville happily. "Only thing was, once they realized they had no hold over me, they decided Hogwarts could do without me after all. I don't know whether they were planning to kill me or send me to Azkaban, either way, I knew it was time to disappear."

"Where did you go?" asked Annabeth, intregued.

"Aren't ¨C aren't we heading straight back for Hogwarts?" Asked Ron, looking thoroughly confused,

"'Course," said Neville. "You'll see. We're here."

They turned a corner and there ahead of them was the end of the passage. Another short flight of steps led to a door just like the one hidden behind Ariana's portrait. Neville pushed it open and climbed through. As Harry followed, he heard Neville call out for unseen people:

"Look who it is! Didn't I tell you?"

As Harry emerged into the room behind the passage, there were several screams and yells: "HARRY!"

"It's Potter, it's POTTER!"

"Ron!"

"Hermione!"

He had a confused impression of colored hangings, of lamps and many faces. The next moment, he, Ron, and Hermione were engulfed, hugged, pounded on the back, their hair ruffled, their hands shaken, by what seemed to be more than twenty people. They might have just won a Quidditch final. Nico, Annabeth, and Percy all looked completely bewildered as old school friend and admirers surrounded the six of them.

Okay, okay, calm down!" Neville called, and as the crowd backed away, Harry was able to take in their surroundings.

He did not recognize the dorm at all. It was enormous, and looked rather like the interior of a particularly sumptuous tree house, or perhaps a gigantic ship's cabin. Multicolored hammocks were strung from the ceiling and from the balcony that ran around the dark wood-paneled and windowless walls, which were covered in bright tapestry hangings. Harry saw the gold Gryffindor lion, emblazoned on scarlet; the black badger of Hufflepuff, set against yellow; and the bronze eagle of Ravenclaw, on blue. The silver and green of Slytherin alone were absent. There were bulging bookcases, a few broomsticks propped against the walls, and in the corner, a large wood-cased wireless.

"Where are we?" asked Harry.

"The Room of Requirement, of course!" said Neville.

"The Room of what now?" asked Nico, and murmers broke out among the students. They all knew Harry, Ron and Hermione, but these new people were strangers.

"Surpassed itself, hasn't it?" continued Neville happily, oblivious to the tension. "The Carrows were chasing me, and I knew I had just one chance for a hideout: I managed to get through the door and this is what I found! Well, it wasn't exactly like this when I arrived, it was a load smaller, there was only one hammock and just Gryffindor hangings. But it's expanded as more and more of the D.A. arrived."

"And the Carrows can't get in?" asked Harry, looking around for the door.

"No," said Seamus Finnigan, whom Harry had not recognized until he spoke: Seamus's face was bruised and puffy. "It's a proper hideout, as long as one of us stays in here, they can't get at us, the door won't open. It's all down to Neville. He really gets this room. You've got to ask for exactly what you need; like, 'I don't want any Carrow supporters to be able to get in', and it'll do it for you! You've just got to make sure you close the loopholes. Neville's the man!"

"It's quite straightforward, really," said Neville modestly. "I'd been in here about a day and a half, and getting really hungry, and wishing I could get something to eat, and that's when the passage to Hog's Head opened up. I went through it and met Aberforth. He's been providing us with food, because for some reason, that's the one thing the room doesn't really do."

"Yeah, well, food's one of the five exceptions to Gamp's Law of Elemental Transfiguration," said Ron to general astonishment.

"So we've been hiding out here for nearly two weeks," said Seamus, "and it just makes more hammocks every time we need room, and it even sprouted a pretty good bathroom once girls started turning up-"

"And thought they'd quite like to wash, yes," supplied Lavender Brown, whom Harry had not noticed until that point. Annabeth chuckled. Now that Harry looked around properly, he recognized many familiar faces. Both Patil twins were there, as were Terry Boot, Ernie Macmillan, Anthony Goldstein, and Michael Corner.

"Tell us what you've been up to, though," said Ernie. "There've been so many rumors, we've been trying to keep up with you on Potterwatch." He pointed at the wireless. "You didn't break into Gringotts?"

"They did!" said Neville. "And the dragon's true too!"

There was a smattering of applause and a few whoops; Ron took a bow.

"What were you after?" asked Seamus eagerly.

Before any of them could parry the question with one of their own, Harry felt a terrible, scorching pain in the lightning scar. As he turned his back hastily on the curious and delighted faces, the Room of Requirement vanished, and he was standing inside a ruined stone shack, and the rotting floorboards were ripped apart at his feet, a disinterred golden box lay open and empty beside the hole, and Voldemort's scream of fury vibrated inside his head.

With an enormous effort he pulled out of Voldemort's mind again, back to where he stood, swaying, in the Room of Requirement, sweat pouring from his face and Annabeth holding him up.

"Are you all right, Harry?" Neville was saying. "What to sit down? I expect you're tired, aren't -?"

"No," said Harry. He tried to look at Percy, Annabeth, Nico, Ron, and Hermione, all at once trying to tell them without words that Voldemort had just discovered the loss of one of the other Horcruxes. Time was running out fast: If Voldemort chose to visit Hogwarts next, they would miss their chance.

"We need to get going," he said, and their expressions told him that they understood.

"What are we going to do, then, Harry?" asked Seamus. "What's the plan?"

"Plan?" repeated Harry. He was exercising all his willpower to prevent himself succumbing again to Voldemort's rage: His scar was still burning. "Well, there's something we, need to do, and then we'll get out of here."

Nobody was laughing or whooping anymore. Neville looked confused.

"What d'you mean, 'get out of here'?" someone asked.

"We haven't come back to stay," said Harry, rubbing his scar, trying to soothe the pain. "There's something important we need to do- "

"What is it?"

"We can't tell you." Said Annabeth firmly.

There was a ripple of muttering at this: Neville's brows contracted.

Why can't you tell us? It's something to do with fighting You-Know-Who, right?"

"Well, yeah -" began Harry,

"Then we'll help you." Said Neville.

The other members of Dumbledore's Army were nodding, some enthusiastically, others solemnly. A couple of them rose from their chairs to demonstrate their willingness for immediate action.

"You don't understand," Harry seemed to have said that a lot in the last few hours. "We ¨C we can't tell you. We've got to do it ¨C alone."

"Why?" asked Neville. 'Besides," he lowered his voice a bit, 'Why did you tell these strangers what your doing and not us? We've known you for years, you can trust us!"

"Because ..." In his desperation to start looking for the missing Horcrux, or at least have a private discussion with Percy, Nico, Annabeth, Ron and Hermione about where they might commence their search. Harry found it difficult to gather his thoughts. His scar was still searing. "Dumbledore left the three of us a job," he said carefully, "and we weren't supposed to tell - I mean, he wanted us to do it, just the three of us. These three," he gestured to Nico, Percy, and Annabeth, "got thrown into the mix involuntarily."

"We're his army," said Neville. "Dumbledore's Army. We were all in it together, we've been keeping it going while you three have been off on your own -"

"It hasn't exactly been a picnic, mate," said Ron.

"I never said it had, but I don't see why you can't trust us. Everyone in this room's been fighting and they've been driven in here because the Carrows were hunting them down. Everyone in here's proven they're loyal to Dumbledore, loyal to you."

"Wow, they really like you Harry.' Muttered Percy.

"Look," Harry began, without knowing what he was going to say, but it did not matter. The tunnel door had just opened behind him.

"We got your message, Neville! Hello you three, I thought you must be here!"

It was Luna and Dean. Seamus gave a great roar of delight and ran to hug his best friend.

"Hi, everyone!" said Luna happily. "Oh, it's great to be back! Oh, Percy, Nico, Annabeth, you're here too!"

"Luna," said Harry distractedly, "what are you doing here? How did you-?"

"I sent for her," said Neville, holding up the fake Galleon. "I promised her and Ginny that if you turned up I'd let them know. We all thought that if you came back, it would mean revolution. That we were going to overthrow Snape and the Carrows."

"Of course that's what it means," said Luna brightly. "Isn't it, guys? We're going to fight them out of Hogwarts?"

"Listen," said Harry with a rising sense of panic, "I'm sorry, but that's not what we came back for. There's something we've got to do, and then -"

"You're going to leave us in this mess?" demanded Michael Cornet.

"No!" said Ron. "What we're doing will benefit everyone in the end, it's all about trying to get rid of You-Know-Who -"

"Then let us help!" said Neville angrily. "We want to be a part of it!"

There was another noise behind them, and Harry turned. His heart seemed to fall: Ginny was now climbing through the hole in the wall, closely followed by Fred, George, and Lee Jordan. Ginny gave Harry a radiant smile: He had forgotten, he had never fully appreciated, how beautiful she was, but he had never been less pleased to see her.

"I think I just saw the wizard version Connor and Travis." Murmered Percy, eyeing the wealey twins, who cracked identical, devilish grins.

"Aberforth's getting a bit annoyed," said Fred, raising his hand in answer to several cries of greeting. "He wants a kip, and his bar's turned into a railway station."

Harry's mouth fell open. Right behind Lee Jordan came Harry's old girlfriend, Cho Chang. She smiled at him.

"I got the message," she said, holding up her own fake Galleon and she walked over to sit beside Michael Corner.

"So what's the plan, Harry?" said George.

"There isn't one," said Harry, still disoriented by the sudden appearance of all these people, unable to take everything in while his scar was still burning so fiercely.

"Just going to make it up as we go along, are we? My favorite kind," said Fred.

"You've got to stop this!" Percy told Neville. "Why did you call all these people here? This is insane-"

"We're fighting, aren't we?" said Dean, taking out his fake Galleon. "The message said Harry was back, and we were going to fight! I'll have to get a wand, though-"

"You haven't got a wand¨C?" began Seamus.

Ron turned suddenly to Harry.

"Why can't they help?"

"Because this mission isn't meant for anyone other than us." Said Hermione.

"They can help." He dropped his voice and said, so that none of them could hear but Hermione, who stood between them, "We don't know where it is. We've got to find it fast. We don't have to tell them it's a Horcrux."

Harry looked from Ron to the resy of their group,

"I think Ron's right. We don't even know what we're looking for, we need them." Whispered Annabeth.

"You don't have to do everything alone, Harry." Said Nico.

"Yes!" said Ron, "These people joined the quest, and look how much they've helped us!" said Ron, gesturing to Percy, Annabeth and Nico. "I mean, if Percy hadn't healed Dobby with the water, Dobby'd be dead! And without Nico, the cup horcrux would still be alive!"

Harry thought fast, his scar still prickling, his head threatening to split again. Dumbledore had warned him against telling anyone but Ron and Hermione about the Horcruxes. But did want to become like Voldemort, untrusting to anyone?

"All right," he said quietly to the other five. "Okay," he called to the room at large, and all noise ceased: Fred and George, who had been cracking jokes for the benefit of those nearest, fell silent, and all of the looked alert, excited.

"There's something we need to find," Harry said. "Something ¨C something that'll help us overthrow You-Know-Who. It's here at Hogwarts, but we don't know where.

"It might have belonged to Ravenclaw." Annabeth put in, "Has anyone heard of an object like that? Has anyone come across something with her eagle on it, for instance?"

Harry looked hopefully toward the little group of Ravenclaws, to Padma, Michael, Terry, and Cho, but it was Luna who answered, perched on the arm of Ginny's chair.

"Well, there's her lost diadem. I told you about it, remember, Harry? The lost diadem of Ravenclaw? Daddy's trying to duplicate it."

"Yeah, but the lost diadem," said Michael Corner, rolling his eyes, "is _lost_, Luna. That's sort of the point."

"When was it lost?" asked Annabeth.

"Centuries ago, they say," said Cho, and Harry's heart sank. "Professor Flitwick says the diadem vanished with Ravenclaw herself. People have looked, but," she appealed to her fellow Ravenclaws. "Nobody's ever found a trace of it, have they?"

They all shook their heads. "This could actually be it!" whispered Annabeth excitedly. "It could be lost because Tom Riddle stole it, and used it as a horcrux."

"Your right!" said Harry, he turned to the students. 'Is there any way to know what it looks like?" he asked.

"There's a model of it in the Ravenclaw common room." Luna piped up, I could take you there."

"That would be great." Said Harry, "Nico, come with me, if we get close to finding the thing, I'll need you to help destroy it." Nico nodded curtly.

"Are you sure you're up to destroying another one?" asked Ron. Nico shrugged.

"I might be able to."

"Alright, Percy come with me," said Ron, "The basilisk in the school has venom that can destroy a horcrux. If we can get a few fangs, Nico won't have to destroy the horcrux by himself."

"Great idea." Said Percy, "One question, how in Hades are you going to get a basilisk fang?"

"We go to the girls bathroom-"

"_What?" _

"I'll explain on the way." Said Ron, they began to hurry out of the Room of requirement.

"Wait, what are we supposed to be doing while you four are gone, brushing our hair?" asked Annabeth crossly.

"Just…stay here, look after Dumbledore's army." Said Ron.

"Excuse me, we don't _need_ to be 'looked after" said Neville.

"That's right; we're coming with you two." Said Annabeth.

"Annabeth, please stay here, I don't want you getting hurt." Implored Percy.

"Hmph, fine." Said Annabeth, still looking angry.

"_Thank you, _now can we go?" said Ron, and he and Percy hurried out of the room.

**Okay, I know there wasn't much action in the last two chapters, but I can promise you a lot more in the next chapter. Also, I know in the Hogs Head Aberforth and Harry were supposed to have a big discussion on Dumbledore, but since I never really mentioned him in my writing, I sort of just left that bit out.**


	19. Authors Note

**Hi guys! I'm so sorry I haven't updated for so long, this month is gonna' be super busy for me, hopefully I'll be able to update more from now on, but I can't make any promises, like I said, this month is gonna' be really busy for me. Sorry again!**

** -Silverwing123**


	20. The Attack on Camp

**Hi Guys! I'm soooooo sorry I haven't updated for so long, I haven't had much time to write, I've been really busy this month.**

As soon as they left, students began to surround Hermione and Annabeth, pelting them with questions.

"Where are you from, Annabeth?"

"Are you guys on the run, or are you on a mission?"

"What were you after at Gringotts?"

Before either of them could answer even one question, there was a collective gasp from the students. They backed away from Annabeth and Hermione, their eyes wide, staring at something behind the two of them.

"What is it?" asked Hermione, she yelped in surprise as she turned around. Annabeth looked and saw a shimmering screen behind them, an iris message from camp Half-Blood.

"Annabeth!" said Miranda Gardener, daughter of Demeter, who had cast the iris message. "Thank the gods! We've been trying to call you since yesterday, but something keeps blocking the massages!"

"Miranda, what happened?" asked Annabeth urgently. Behind Miranda, Annabeth could see nothing but chaos.

"Monsters have invaded the camp! They got past the border, and have been attacking for days now!"

"What? But how did they get in?!" asked Annabeth, her eyes wide.

"We don't know! We called because the last time someone breeched the perimeter it was, well, _the wizards._" She gestured to Hermione.

"What the bloody hell is that!?" said Seamus, who seemed to have gotten over his shock. The rest of D.A. began to shout questions, looking at the iris message with alarm.

"QUIET! Everyone!" shouted Hermione, everyone obliged. She turned back to the iris message.

"We certainly aren't responsible for the attack on the camp." She said.

"We're not saying you are," said Miranda, "It's just that, these monsters aren't Greek, and we can't kill them!"

"What do you mean, you can't kill them, are there too many or something?" Asked Annabeth

"No, it's not that, we literally can't kill them. They should all be dead by now, but they're not! I stabbed one with my dagger in the, right in the chest, but as soon as I took the blade out, the wound healed!"

Annabeth's eyes widened in shock, monsters had invaded _her_ camp, and weren't being killed? How were they getting in in the first place?

"Monsters can't get into the camp unless they're being let in by a half-blood-"

"Or unless they find another entrance into camp." Interrupted Miranda, "Remember the labyrinth entrance, it opened up right into the middle of camp."

"But we destroyed the labyrinth on our-"

"I think I know why!" Hermione suddenly said. "I mean, I know why you can't kill them." She elaborated, lowering her voice so only Annabeth and Miranda could hear. "Remember when Percy was visited by Hecate, she said that wizards cannot kill Greek monsters, and _half-bloods cannot kill magical beasts!_ They must be monsters from the wizarding world! Miranda, can you describe the monsters?"

"Well, there are dragons, tons of them, all different species."

"No surprises there." Said Hermione, "Dragons are magical beasts."

"Then these weird, black things that look like cloaks, they creep up on people and suffocate them."

"Those are Lethifolds!" said Hermione, "Also known as The Living Shroud."

"And these gigantic leopard-like things, they move silently and attack, and their breath causes disease, they've been plaguing the camp for ages!"

"I've read about those, those are Nundus!" Hermione said at once, "Highly dangerous creatures."

"And these weird spider things with five legs and reddish hair. They like eating us."

"Those are Quintapeds!" cried Hermione,

"And then these huge, black…_things"_ Miranda shuddered, "Wherever they go, that place becomes all cold, and you start thinking about the worst moments of your life. It's like they suck out all the happiness from the world."

"Dementors." Said Annabeth gravely, "No doubts about in now, magical beasts are invading camp."

"But that would imply someone _let_ them in, some wizard!" said Miranda.

Hermione turned to Annabeth, "You-Know-Who figured out what you, Percy, and Nico are," she said, carefully avoiding using the word 'demigod', "He must have figured out there were more of your kind somewhere, and sent monsters to finish you!"

"Yes, yes, that's all very good," snapped Miranda, "but now how do we kill them! If only wizards can kill them, we're doomed!"

"No, you're not." Said Hermione, suddenly straightening up, "We'll come to the camp and help you."

"Hermione, no." said Annabeth, she lowered her voice, "It's bad enough that even _three_ wizards know demigods exist, bringing all these kids to the camp, if even one figures out who we are, they'll tell everyone."

"What other choice do we have? Would you prefer the camp in ruins?" asked Hermione. After Annabeth didn't answer, Hermione turned to address all of D.A.

"Everyone!" she said. The babble of curious talk died down. "Annabeth, Percy, and Nico joined our quest a while ago, and they've already saved our lives many times."

Annabeth was about to point out this was not entirely true, but Hermione gave her a look that said quite plainly, _shut-up. _Then, she continued addressing the students, "Now, their society of wizards in America is being threatened by You-Know-Who, it's our duty to help them!"

"Go to _America _and fight with wizards we don't even know?" said someone from the crowd skeptically, "There's a war going on _here_, and I'm not leaving."

Hermione's face turned red with anger, "Oh, for Merlin's sake, a few bloody seconds ago all of you were dying to help Harry with his mission, now, You-Know-Who is threatening to wipe out an entire colony of magical people, and you want to sit on your behinds and do nothing?! Merlin's pants, that is despicable!" she cried shrilly. Annabeth couldn't help but smile. _Merlin's pants?_After a few moments of silence Neville said,

"Where is this place, and how do we get there?" Annabeth almost cried with relief, and from the iris message, Miranda said, "Thank you." Then cut the connection. There were a few more gasps as the screen of the iris message disappeared.

"We'll apperate into the camp, but first, everyone coming must know how to defend themselves properly." There was a collective murmur of acknowledgement from the students, but none of them backed away from the task. "Good," said Hermione, "Everyone must also know how to produce a Patronus, that's the only way to defeat Lethifolds and Dementors." Again, everyone nodded.

"Right," said Annabeth, "Hermione's been to the camp before, so she can apperated you there in groups. Have your wands out and be ready for attack as soon as you arrive."

Hermione began to apperate in and out of the castle, taking the students with her in groups of five or six. Many apperations later, Hermione latched on to the last five students and said,

"Alright, Annabeth, we'll see you in a while."

"Wait, what?!" said Annabeth, walking forward, "I'm coming too!"

Hermione sighed, "Annabeth, you can't defeat these monsters anyway, there's no need to put yourself in unnecessary danger."

Annabeth drew herself up to her full height and said, "_My _camp is under attack. That camp is my _home,_ I don't care if I can't help, _I am going._"

There was obviously no way Annabeth was going to change her mind, and Hermione knew it. She jokingly put her hands up in surrender and said, "Alright, grab on.", and they apperated to camp.

**Annabeth's P.O.V**

When their feet touched the ground, Annabeth's stomach did a flip as she saw her beloved camp infested with creatures. Dragons swarmed the skies, shooting jets of flame on the roofs of cabins. Huge, leopard-like beasts rampaged the camp, attacking every camper in sight, and large black things that looked like cloaks and emanated a chill similar to that of dementors. Campers were desperately trying to kill them, but no matter how many arrows or swords pierced the monsters, they did not die. Their wounds healed, and they continued to attack. Some campers continued fighting, even though they knew the effort was fruitless, and others simply took shelter in their cabins or the Big House.

The wizards and witches that had just arrived were fighting with a little more success, cursing and hexing every creature in sight. Many of the campers had stopped to watch the wizards in action, gaping at the patronuses that chased away the Lethifolds and Dementors. But after quickly looking around the camp, Annabeth realized that the beasts that had invaded the camp were highly dangerous, even in the wizarding world and trained wizards weren't fighting them, schoolchildren were. It was true, they were having more success than the half-bloods, but even with their combined efforts, the campers distracting or cornering the monsters and the wizards killing them, Annabeth knew this wasn't going to be an easily won battle. She, as well as Hermione and the five other students, took off down the hill to join the fight.

-Line Break-

Hours later, Hermione and Annabeth sat in the dining pavilion, which had been declared the most secure area. Wizards and Half-Bloods alike lay on cots and tables, children of Apollo healing their many wounds or curing them of the plague the Nundus breathed. Connor Stoll and Fred Weasley walked in, smiling as if they had just shared a private joke. Annabeth had known the two sets of brothers would get along perfectly. Fred plopped down on a seat, and a healer rushed to tend to a gaping wound on his shoulder. Connor walked up to Annabeth.

"We've cleared the perimeter; most of the monsters have been forced past the border. Once they're outside the camp, Thalia's tree keeps them from getting back in."

"Why do you sound so disappointed." Asked Hermione.

"No matter how many timed we 'clear the perimeter', more monsters just keep appearing within the camp!"

"When the attack started," said Travis, who had appeared at his brother's side, "There were about twenty monsters. Then suddenly,"

"There were thirty." Said Conner,

"Then forty," said Travis.

"And the numbers kept going up. They've-"

"Got to be multiplying or something!"

Hermione rubbed her temple. "Please stop finishing each other's sentences, it's driving me crazy. You two are worse than the Weasley twins." The two brothers cracked identical, mischievous grins.

Annabeth face was scrunched up with concentration. "Keep fighting them." She said to the Stoll brothers. "Hermione and I will figure out where they're coming in from."

"Sure thing, Annabeth." Said Connor, and they ran off to the battlefield outside.

Hermione turned to Annabeth, "Is there any other way to get into the camp, apart from walking right across the border."

"None that I know of." Said Annabeth, "Do you think someone can be apperating the monsters in?"

"Definitely not." Said Hermione, "You can only apperate something other than yourself it's holding on to you tight; these monsters would devour a wizard before he ever had the chance to get anywhere."

"Well, there used to be an underground labyrinth that had an opening into the middle of the camp," said Annabeth, "But Percy and I destroyed that labyrinth on a quest. The entrance shouldn't be functional anymore."

"It's worth checking." Said Hermione, "We don't have any other ideas of where they could be coming from."

"Alright, it's in the woods." Said Annabeth, and the two girls took off towards the forest. They past campers, wizards, and witches fighting all sorts of monsters Annabeth had never seen before. They stopped at the entrance of the forest.

"There are probably even more monsters in there." Said Hermione, the tiniest bit of fear creeping into her voice. Annabeth wasn't used to seeing her like this; she was usually so smart and steady.

"We can take them." Said Annabeth in a reassuring voice. And they ran into the forest.

"Where is it?' panted Hermione, just barely keeping up with the athletic Annabeth.

"It's by Zeus's fist, not much farther." Said Annabeth.

"Hey, I know this spot." Said Hermione, suddenly stopping in the middle of a clearing. "This is where we apperated when we first arrived at camp Half-Blood!"

"And where you jinxed me." Said Annabeth, smiling, remembering how much rage she had felt at Hermione at the time. She had wanted cleave her in half with her dagger, and would never have imagined they would be going on a quest together.

"Let's keep going." Said Hermione. "Where's this 'Zeus's Fist'?"

"Right over there actually." Said Annabeth, pointing to a pile of boulders.

"That doesn't look anything like a fist." Said Hermione frowning. Annabeth shrugged and headed over to the fist.

"The entrance was here." She said. Hermione walked over to join her, and peered into the gap in the boulders. "But ever since we destroyed the labyrinth it hasn't opened up."

Hermione gingerly touched the soil where the entrance had once been. There was no great explosion, no dramatic event, the entrance remained stubbornly shut.

"Well that's that." Said Hermione, obviously disappointed. Suddenly, she slapped herself on the head. "How _could_ I have forgotten!" she muttered, taking out her wand.

"What? What is it?" Annabeth inquired.

"The labyrinth collapsed, so of course it wouldn't open up the way the builder designed it to! If You-Know-Who put an entrance under here, it would open up by magic!" she said. She pointed her wand at the ground and muttered a few words under her breath. A swooshing noise emanated from her wand. "Well, there's definitely something down there."

"Can you open up the ground?" asked Annabeth, sliding down into the gap with Hermione.

"I think so, there are a few protective enchantments around it, but I think I can break through them." She said. She began to mutter spells under her breath. And Annabeth could have sworn she saw a transparent bubble around the entrance fading away as Hermione finished the spell with a flick of her wand.

"That should do it," said Hermione, "Now we just need to-Whoa!" She yelped as the ground suddenly caved in beneath them, swallowing the two girls whole. The fall wasn't very far, and Annabeth stood up as soon as she hit a solid brick floor. They were in some sort of long room. No, not a long room, a corridor. Her mind reeled in shock as she realized she was in the labyrinth. Had it somehow reconstructed itself? How was it still here?

"Wow," said Hermione, looking around in amazement, "I was prepared for something dramatic to happen, but I wasn't expecting this." She stared to walk along the corridor, but Annabeth quickly pulled her back.

"Hermione, we are in _Deadalus's _labyrinth, the biggest, most complicated maze in the world. Everything's different down here, time, distance, it all changes in the could walk three steps in the maze, and it would be three miles above ground. We need to find a way to navigate it!"

"Annabeth, calm down!" said Hermione, "From what I've heard about Deadalus's maze, no magic can reproduce it. If you collapsed it, then it's _gone._ This is probably just a portion of a corridor, revived by a repairing spell. None of the other time or distance enchantments are here, it's not _possible._"

Annabeth tentatively let go of Hermione's arm. "Okay, but we should still be careful, no matter how small it is, it's still a maze." And they began to walk down the corridor. After walking for a few minutes, the girls had their first encounter. A roar thunderous roar could be heard from far way, so loud it seemed to shake the walls. And out of nowhere, a dragon came hurdling down the passage, had Annabeth not pushed Hermione out of the way, she would have been trampled. It turned around and faced the girls, glaring at them with its slit-pupil eyes. Annabeth couldn't help but think it was rather pretty, with its smooth, copper colored scales and black ridge markings along its back.

"That's a Peruvian Vipetooth!" squeaked Hermione, obviously terrified. "It's the smallest of all known dragons, but has a particularly venomous-"

"Spare me the lecture!" shouted Annabeth, drawing her dagger and dodging a plume of flame the dragon had fired, "How do we kill it?!" The dragon lunged at her and Annabeth rolled away just in time, the plunged her dagger into its back. The dragon howled in pain, but as soon as Annabeth withdrew her dagger, the wound began to close. "Help me out here, Hermione!" she shouted. Hermione, who had been staring at the scene in horror, quickly snapped out of it.

"Distract it!" she said, "I need to hit it right in the eye!" Annabeth ran in front of the dragon and waved her dagger.

"Over here, you big smelly beast!" she shouted. The dragon lunged at her, but she dodged it easily. For a millisecond, it remained still, looking for Annabeth, and in that millisecond, Hermione shouted,

" _Stupefy!"_ The spell hit the dragon directly in the eye. It swayed on the spot for a moment, a low growl that might have been an attempt at a roar escaped its lips, and it fell to the ground.

Annabeth sheathed her dagger and cautiously examined the dragon.

"Is it dead?" she asked.

"No, only stunned." Said Hermione. "I'll have to kill it, won't I?"

Annabeth stared at Hermione, realizing she was a bit of an animal lover. "Yeah, you will, I would offer to do it for you, but..." she trailed off.

Hermione sighed, then pointed her wand at the dragon, closed her eyes, and said, "_Avadra Kedava." _There was a blinding flash of green light, and when Annabeth could see again, the dragon was dead. Hermione was looking down at the clay of the beast, shocked at what she had done.

"Well, we know one thing for sure." Said Annabeth, breaking the silence, "This is definitely where the monsters are coming from."

"Let's keep going, be ready for attack, another could come at any moment." Said Hermione. With their weapons drawn, they continued down the corridor, until they reached a large door.

"That's strange," murmured Annabeth, "I don't recall any doors like this in the labyrinth." Hermione carefully opened the door, which surprisingly was unlocked. As soon as she entered, she yelped in surprise. It was a large room with a high ceiling supported by many pillars. The room was being illuminated by many flashes of lightning revolving around a large, oval shaped black hole-like thing. In front of the storm-thing was a huge creature. It had a lion's body, but a human face. It seemed to be guarding the storm-thing.

"They've been getting in through a portal!" said Hermione, looking at the storm-thing with awe. "Portals are incredibly hard to conjure."

Annabeth's attention was more focused on the creature guarding the portal. She had seen pictures of creatures like it, it was a sphinx. She crouched into battle position, but the sphinx didn't seem want to attack, it just gazed calmly at the two girls.

"Sphinxes aren't usually violent," said Hermione, as if reading Annabeth's thoughts, "They only attack if you do something against their duty. This one will only attack if we try to get to the portal."

"Nicely phrased." Said the sphinx in a women's voice. Annabeth stumbled back in surprise, but quickly collected herself. If the sphinx could talk, perhaps she could reason with it.

"We need to disable the portal, and we'll use any means necessary to do so. You might as well let us past willingly, or we'll have to hurt you." She said.

"I'm afraid I cannot allow you to pass, if you try to, I shall be forced to attack." Said the sphinx stubbornly. Annabeth held her dagger out in front of her, preparing to charge at the sphinx.

"What about a riddle?!" said Hermione suddenly. The sphinx turned to her, raising an eyebrow. "All sphinxes have a love of riddles, don't they? Tell us a riddle, and if we get it right, let us pass. If not, you can attack us." Said Hermione. Annabeth held her breath as the sphinx considered the offer for a moment, then began to speak.

"_A natural state, I'm sought by all._

_Go without me, and you shall fall._

_You do me when you spend,_

_and don't have me when you eat to no end."_

Hermione turned to Annabeth expectantly. "Well, daughter of Athena, what do you think?" Annabeth was already thinking hard, trying to unravel the riddle.

"_A natural state, I'm sought by all._ That could be riches, gold or jewls…" she murmured.

"That's not our answer!" Hermione quickly said to the sphinx, then she turned to Annabeth, "Riches would be an answer to _'You do me when you spend', _and I suppose without them you wouldn't have much success in life, or '_you shall fall_', but they have nothing to do with _'Eating to no end'"_

"Then what _does_ fit with '_don't have me when you eat to no end'_?" pondered Annabeth, mainly to herself.

"I dunno', hunger maybe?"

"No, hunger isn't a '_natural state sought by all'._ Let's focus on the '_without me you shall fall' _bit, it seems that most straightforward."

"Legs?" asked Hermione, giggling. "Maybe a cane or crutches to balance on, or-"

"That's it!" Annabeth suddenly cried, a grin spreading across her face.

"What's it? A cane?" asked Hermione skeptically, "I seriously doubt it."

"No, no, balance!" she cried, "_'A natural state, I'm sought by all'_ everyone seeks an 'inner balance' or whatever, _'go without me and you shall fall' _without your balance, you fall, '_You use me when you spend'_, you have your bank balance which you use when you send money, and _'don't have me when you eat to no end'_ you don't have a healthy balance when you eat too much!"

"Your right!" said Hermione, "Annabeth Chase, you are a genius!" she turned to the sphinx. "That's our answer, Balance."

The sphinx smiled and stepped aside. "You have a sharp mind." She said to Annabeth.

Hermione walked up to the portal, her wand drawn.

"Do you know how to disable it?" asked Annabeth, joining her by the portal, examining it with fascination.

"In theory, yes." Said Hermione, "But it's a very complicated spell, I'm not sure if I can-eek!" she jumped back as a slimy, rotted looking hand emerged from the portal, followed by a long cloaked arm and body. Annabeth felt the familiar cold wash over her as a dementor glided out of the portal. She felt her worst memories flash to the front of her mind. Thalia was lying on the top of Half-Blood hill, wounded and dying. Luke was rising out a coffin, possessed by Kronos. Suddenly, Hermione's weak, shaky voice snapped her out of her daze.

"_Ex-Expecto Patronum!"_ she said, her voice quivering. A silver otter burst from her wand and swam through the air towards the dementor. Annabeth could swear she heard the cloacked beast scream as it retreated back through the portal. The cold disappeared abruptly and Annabeth sighed with relief. She heard Hermione take a deep, shaky breath in.

"I'll start disabling the portal, but we might have to call a more experienced witch or wizard to help." She said.

"That would be a problem." Said Annabeth, "I was under the impression you where the most experienced witch out of D.A., there isn't any other more skilled witch or wizard to call."

"I'll try on my own first," she said, "If I can't manage the spell we'll apperate back to Hogwarts and bring someone to help, maybe one of the professors…" Annabeth didn't agree with this plan, she trusted the wizards and witches completely, but she didn't want any more magical folk to come to camp. If anyone found out the campers were demigods, she doubted they would keep it a secret as Harry, Ron, and Hermione had done. As if reading her thoughts, Hermione said,

"Most of the DA has probably figured out you aren't wizards by now, just being here says that." Annabeth sighed, knowing she was probably right.

"Just try it on your own first." Annabeth pleaded.

"I know, I know." Said Hermione. Then, she pointed her wand at the portal and began to wave it in a complicated, hexagonal shape, muttering an incantation under her breath. A series of green sparks emanated from her wand and hovered around the edges from the portal. Then, slowly but surely, they began to retract, forcing the portal to become smaller and smaller. Soon, it had gone from having a twelve foot diameter to no bigger than Annabeth's palm. The portal seemed to be resisting the spell, desperately trying to burst outwards. Annabeth could see sweat forming on Hermione's forehead from trying to keep it under control. _Hang in there, Hermione; _she thought anxiously, _Camp Half-Blood depends on it._ With a final flourish of her wand, the portal exploded with such force it knocked Annabeth and Hermione, off her feet. When she straightened up, the portal was gone.

"I shall return to the wild." The sphinx said, and it loped off down the passageway. Annabeth rushed to Hermione, who was still on the ground, panting from exhaustion.

"You did it!" she said happily, "The portal's gone!" A small smile formed on Hermione's face.

"Yeah," she said panting "Let's get back to the cam and finish off the remaining monsters." She tried to stand up, but her knees buckled and Annabeth just managed to catch her.

"Whoa!" said Annabeth, helping her to her feet. Hermione still had to lean on her. "Are you alright?"

"Yes…I think." Said Hermione weakly.

"That spell really drained you." Said Annabeth, supporting Hermione as the two of them walked down the corridor toward the exit. "I'll get you back to camp and an Apollo kid can fix you up."

-Line Break-

After every monster had been forced out of the camp or killed, the campers, witches, and wizards had regrouped at the dining pavilion, where most of the magical folk were eager to get back to Hogwarts. The excited babble of talk died down immediately as Chiron, Hermione, and Annabeth walked to the front of the hall.

"On behalf of the camp, I would like to thank all the witches and wizards here, without whom our camp would still be under attack." Said Chiron, who was in his wheelchair form. There was a murmur of acknowledgement from the campers in the crowd.

"Annabeth!" a voice suddenly cried out from behind them. Annabeth whirled around to see an iris message floating in the air behind her, Percy's face framed in the screen of the message. "Thank gods! Where are you!? When we got back to the room of requirement you were missing!"

"Hermione! Are you alright!?" said Ron's panic stricken voice from behind Percy.

"We're fine." Said Annabeth "We had to go back to camp for a while-"

"What!? Why!?" said Percy.

"There was an attack," said Hermione. "Voldemort was probably behind it."

"What sort of attack?" asked Percy, panic rising in his voice.

"A bunch of magical beasts invaded, we had to bring D.A. to help out." Said Annabeth. "Everything here is fine now."

"What's happening at Hogwarts?" asked Hermione urgently.

"Death Eaters have invaded the castle, there's an all out war going on here!" said Ron, "Harry and Nico found the next horcrux and destroyed it, that just leaves the snake."

"We'll get back right away." Said Hermione, slashing her hand through the mist and cutting the connection.

"We need to get back to Hogwarts" began Hermione, there was a outburst of giggles at the name _'Hogwarts' _which she ignored. "There is a war going on there and-"

"And I propose we go with them to help!" Annabeth said suddenly.

"_What?"_ asked Hermione, looking at Annabeth as if she had gone crazy.

"You need help there." she said, "The only troops you have there are schoolchildren and a few teachers, everyone here are trained fighters, we can help! Besides, we owe you!" There were nods of agreement from the crowd, and Annabeth could see the campers from the Hecate cabin were practically jumping with excitement at the prospect of seeing more magic.

"No way are you people coming to Hogwarts!" said Neville, who had forced his way to the front. "You all don't belong there!"

"And why is that?" asked a camper. Neville rolled his eyes.

"We're not completely stupid," he said, "We know you aren't wizards. I've seen a lot of magical things since I came here, including weird goat-human hybrid things." (Several satyrs bleated angrily at being called 'weird goat-human hybrid things.) "But I haven't seen a single wand since I came. But you obviously aren't muggles either. I for one want to know who you all are." There were shouts of agreement from the other witches and wizards. Annabeth cleared her throat loudly to quiet them.

"Your right, we aren't mortals-uh-muggles." She said loudly. "We _will_ tell you what we are, but now is not the time. We can help you, and we will. We're coming to Hogwarts to finish this battle."

Grudgingly, the campers, wizards and witches agreed. Every member of D.A. paired up with a camper, and on three, they all apperated to Hogwarts.

**Yay! The demigods are going to Hogwarts! I know this chapter was kinda' unnecessary, but I really wanted Hermione and Annabeth to go on a quest together. How many of you tried to solve the riddle by yourselves? Sorry again about not updating for a long time.**


	21. On Hold

**Hey Guys!**

**I'm really sorry, but I'm putting the story on hold. I've lost my inspiration for it, and I have other stories I want to focus on. I might come back and finish it, and I might not, but please note that ON HOLD isn't the same as DISCONTINUED. I might finish this story, but don't expect any updates soon. Please read my other stories and review them.**

**Sorry again.**

**-Silverwing321**


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